Cheap or Acceptable?

This post is going to address two separate issues, relating to the holiday season.  I want people's honest opinions on this.

The other day Michelle forwarded to me a Dear Abby column that infuriated her and her friend Cindy.  After I read it, I was upset too.  Then I started to feel embarrassed and insecure.

The letter was written by a woman, who said that, for the past 5 years, she and her niece have been making holiday cards to send to special family and friends.  Her niece was 9 when they started this tradition, and both look forward to it each year.  At some point last year, the woman received a letter and a check from one of the handmade card recipients, telling them that the money was so that they could afford to buy "real Christmas cards", instead of sending cheap, handmade cards.  The woman was hurt, mostly for her niece, that anyone would ever do something so boorish.  She inquired with other people and found out that many people think that handmade cards are considered "cheap".  She was asking Abby for her opinion.  Abby, of course, sided with the woman and her niece.  Abby also told the woman to return the check to the jerk that sent it, and strike their name off every card list.

I've been doing crafts as long as I can remember.  My mom had to keep her only child busy somehow, and since she was good at needlework and drawing and doing crafty stuff (but didn't indulge in it that often), it seemed like a natural progression for me to enjoy it too.  Michelle and Cindy have also been making stuff since they were kids too.  Because we understand the time it takes to make things, we appreciate receiving handmade items too.  I love it.  

But then I started to feel insecure about my handmade cards.  From my point of view, they actually 'cost' more than boring generic boxed cards, when you take into account the cost of all the papers, ribbons and decorations, plus the time it takes, and the extra postage it costs for being heavier with bulky things on them.  For me, it takes about an hour to make 2 cards.  Maybe people roll their eyes when they see another creation from me?  Please let me be clear, no one has ever complained about getting a homemade card.  In fact, a couple of years ago I sent  Autumn a funny store-bought birthday card, and she complained b/c she looked forward to her annual handmade card.  Colour me surprised!  

The other item that I've heard is a way to 'cheap out' on the holidays, is the Gift Card.  Personally I LOVE getting gift cards.  I do.  My boss is big on the gift card and I love him for it.  He knows my interests.  I'm not gonna turn my nose up at a gift card from Artco Crafts, or Stanley & Seaforts Restaurant, or Shipwreck Beads.  They sell gift cards everywhere now.  I remember 'back in the day' when you had to go to the actual store to buy one.  Now you can get them in Safeway or Fred Meyer, for tons and tons of online stores and real stores.  I think gift cards are an acceptable gift, especially if you know the person well.  Debby loves getting Home Depot gift cards b/c she and her husband are still renovating their house.  I think that the gift card also gives you a chance to go to a store you may not normally visit, and not have to spend your own money.  I'm sure one can find something to use the card on (Think: Bed, Bath and Beyond). 

What say you?  Handmade cards and Gift Cards:  Cheap or Acceptable?

The Creepin' Crud and an Altered Book

I've been sick for the past two weeks and it is getting really old.  My boss was sick in mid-November, going into the Thanksgiving weekend.  By the time Deb and I found out he was sick, we hadn't been taking precautions of swiping stuff down with Clorox wipes.  I admit since the swine flu scare went away, I've grown lax about using Purell, although I do wash my hands a lot. 

Deb came back to work from Thanksgiving, with it too.  By that Wednesday, I had lost my voice as well.  The clients and the other attorneys who called kept asking why we were even still there at all.  We were both coughing, sneezing, blowing our noses....croaking into the phones....getting overheated and sweaty from standing at the copier for too long.  Or just standing for too long.  He sent us home Thursday and I went to the doctor on Friday.  I was good and sick.  Fever.  Freezing cold.  Headache that would not quit.  Earache. Painful lymph nodes....They made me wear a mask at the doctor's office.  I got my antibiotics that morning and spent the rest of the weekend sleeping and shivering under a blanket on the couch.  I was so weak that I couldn't even sit up straight at my craft table.

The antibiotics started to work their magic fairly quickly, but now this creepin crud is just hanging on for dear life.  While I'm not full blown sick, I'm still not 100% either.  Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to sleep sitting up?  I have no choice b/c I start coughing if I don't.  It sucks.  My nose got so sore from blowing it that my septum was torn to shreds and scabbed.  But every time I blew my nose or sneezed, all the cuts would open up and gush blood.  Oh and let's not forget about the "other" side effects from taking antibiotics....I'll spare you the TMI images but you all know what I mean, esp. if you are a chick, which most of my readers seem to be.  I've had more energy and was able to do a variety of crafts over the weekend which was awesome.  But I'd really, really like to shake this bone weary exhaustion and coughing.  My right ear still feels full although it doesn't hurt.  And I cannot get enough to drink.  I just had my bloodwork done the day I went to the dr. and my glucose is normal so it's not diabetes. I'm just thirsty, cold and tired every day.

It concerns me to think that these illnesses are becoming more and more drug resistant.  Deb's still coughing pretty much nonstop.  She and I are both over 2 weeks into this and it's not going away.  I wish I could go into work late for a few days, so I could sleep, but as usual we are straight out with cases.  I'll be very glad when the holiday season is over.  I'm ready to put this year to rest.

Anywho, over Thanksgiving weekend I worked on an altered book project that I've wanted to try for awhile. I have some favourite papers, ephemera, and other trinkets and decided to finally put them together into one place. The book is a plain, white thin foam board craft book from the scrapbooking section of the local craft shop.  I covered each page with pretty papers and stuff.  

My idea was to cut windows into some of the pages, and then insert a frame with glass in the center, with designs on each side of the page.  Once it was all done I sanded all the edges of the pages so that they'd be even, then inked the edges with green aging ink.  Click on the pics for a closer look, as the papers are so pretty.

The left page shows another glass 'window' from the hole I cut in the cover page.  I do want to add a couple more watch pieces and faces onto the right page.

I used some quotes that I liked, about living your life on your terms.  There's another window on the right page with glass covering a quote.

I love keys.

This page has a removable little card.

Left page is the reverse glass frame of the long window page.

Another removable card on the left.

The butterfly and dragon fly are attached w/ foam mounting tape to give it a 3D effect.  The bottom border is stacked on 2 layers of the foam tape.  I was trying to go for a garden fence look. It looks better in real life.

This is the back cover and I covered the spine with a piece of ribbon.

Edaville Railroad

I am very fortunate to have been raised on Cape Cod when I was.  Although the west coast is, and always will be, my home, I recognize that my childhood in the 60's and 70's was safe and quaint and so quintessentially "New England".  It was a great place to grow up.

I also had the good fortune to have grown up across from a cranberry bog that had the only railroad tracks servicing Cape Cod at the far end of the bog.  I loved the sound of the train and I always would turn and look to see it, and count how many cars long it was.  I loved the little red caboose at the end, it always seemed like such a happy little car.  I loved the sound of the train whistle as it approached the crossings.  

So it was a real treat to be taken to Edaville Railroad, in Carver, MA, which is off Cape about 30 miles, south/southwest of Plymouth. 

Edaville opened in the late 1940's, by Ellis D. Atwood ("EDA").  He'd bought up some old trains and tracks from defunct railroads in Maine, and placed them around his cranberry bog plantation, to transport employees and equipment out to the bogs, and also to bring tourists around.  Many people don't know how cranberries are grown, so the tour around the bogs is very interesting.

Edaville grew over the years, with more collections of trains, engines, railroad memorabilia, etc.  I seem to recall there was a small railroad and cranberry-themed museum.  

My first memory of going to Edaville was on an elementary school trip.  I think it was 2nd grade, but might have been 1st.  I remember because Sheila was the kid that I 'buddied' with for the trip, since all of us had to have a partner on these field trips, to help the teachers keep track of the kids.  It was early fall, probably mid to late September because it was warm enough that all us kids and teachers had our lunch on the picnic tables outside, after we did the train tour around the bogs and went to the museum.  It was so exciting to be getting out of class for the day, heading off Cape (over the Bridge!!) in a caravan of yellow Sandwich school buses, toting our sack lunches.  The train windows were open, and it was a warm day, as it chugged its way around the working cranberry bogs, which were in the process of being harvested.

This picture, of all of the ones I found on line, reminds me the most of that field trip.

There was a very cool collection of old engines, cars, cabooses, etc.

Edaville was a lot of fun, no matter when you went, but it really came to life in December.  After the bogs are harvested, they are flooded for the winter, to protect the vines from freezing and dying.  The water and ice actually keeps them insulated.  The flooded bogs make for dramatic and magical reflections.

The train made it's way around the bogs and there were lots of lit shapes and decorations that stood out so much in the pitch black night.

I know my parents took me again at some point after the class trip, to take the train through the bogs and see the lights.  It was a tradition that most kids in our part of Massachusetts enjoyed, and some parents have kept up the tradition to this day.  

But the last time I went, my parents took me, my best friend Terry and her twin sister Vikki to Edaville to see the lights.  I would have to guess that it was probably Dec. of 1973.  It was so much fun.  Terry and I reunited on Facebook and I asked her if she remembered that night and I was pleased that she did.  When I think back on that night I remember the cold, crisp December air, laughing, hot chocolate, the crowd, escaping into the museum to warm up, buying candy and the magnificent lights and trains.

I never got the chance to go back after that.  Like everything else, I took it for granted.  Edaville was there, it was always gonna be there, I can go next year.  And then the next year I'd say, I'll go next year.  But I never did.  In the winter of 1988, Jef and I were planning to take his daughter, then 7, to Edaville.  Unfortunately she had managed to get in trouble w/ her mom & stepdad and was grounded the night we were gonna go.  I knew it had to be pretty serious b/c Jef's ex-wife, Ginnie, liked me and always allowed Alicia to hang out at my house on the Cape, w/ Jef too, even overnight.   Taking away the Edaville trip was the only punishment they could think of to discipline Alicia.  

Edaville changed hands over the years, closed in 1991, but was reopened in 1999.  Sheila told me today that it's for sale and if no one buys it, it will close indefinitely in early January.  She took her young son & grandson there last night and is so sad to think it was going to close forever.  I am too.  I wish I had taken the time to go just one last time. Now it's too late.  

Only in America

This is easily one of the funniest stories I have heard in a long, long time, and it happened not too far from where I live.   Below text is taken from KING-5, written by Owen Lei, one of their reporters, but the still shot comes from KIRO-7. 

"AUBURN, Wash. -- Few things in this world can cause frustration, annoyance and road rage like stop-and-go traffic.

After a few months of his new commute between Auburn and Bellevue, Oscar Molina, 23, decided to do something about it -- something many of us only dream of. 

"I spend on average a week, about 10 to 15 hours in traffic," he said, chuckling, "Gives you a lot of time to think."

Problem is, he got caught.

It started last Monday morning, when Molina, a hardware salesman, flipped on the news and saw an accident along his normal route.

"I was late to work, I saw there was a huge traffic on [Highway] 167 north," he said, adding that's when he decided, "I'm hitting the bypass lane on the HOV."

Lacking a carpool companion, though, he singled out Diego, a plush doll belonging to his 3-year-old daughter. Diego is a character based on the TV cartoon "Go, Diego, Go!"

He said he figured if he went fast enough, no one would notice.

"It's a blink of an eye. They see something, they look away," he said.

He didn't count on two things. First, the traffic jam extended into the HOV lane. Second, state troopers happened to be running a carpool lane enforcement that morning.

"I go around the corner and I see three state troopers standing outside the vehicle," he said. "The cop is doing double takes."

His wife, Jessica Molina, said she had warned him before he left. 

"I told him not to use the doll because it had no nose," she said.

But it wasn't Diego's nose that caught the trooper's attention. Rather, according to the trooper's report, it was the "huge unblinking eyes."

"He starts walking closer to the car and I see him coming, and I"m still going two miles an hour," Oscar continued. "I just keep my face forward and I wanted to laugh, because I knew I was going to get caught.  He walks over to my mirror and he says, 'Come on.'"

A media release also noted Diego's seat belt was securely fastened.

Oscar said other than his traffic ticket, which carries a $124 fine, the troopers were just as amused at the whole situation.

"The first cop that pulled me over said, 'Do you mind if I get my friends? It's not every day you see this,'" Oscar said. "He asked, 'can I take a picture?'"

The picture, which accompanied the release about the HOV enforcement, gave Oscar an unexpected fifteen minutes of fame as news outlets around the country picked up the quirky news item, though it did not identify Oscar. That included a paper in Jessica's mother's in hometown in Georgia.

"She was at the dentist this morning and she said 'Who would do something like this?'" Oscar said.

"She was saying 'What an idiot," and I was saying, 'That's your son-in-law,'" Jessica said. "I think the whole thing's pretty funny. I'm not upset about it at all."

As for Diego, Oscar said he is leaving the doll back in the capable hands of his daughter.

He said he understands the situation can be embarrassing and apologized with a smile.

"I mean, what am I going to do about it? I got caught breaking the law and that's it," he said, noting that from now on he will just sit in traffic. His lesson? "As bad as it is, everybody has to do it."

In this guy's defense, the northbound commute on 167 and 405 is horrendous.  I think it's a hoot that the doll was belted.  We take our seat belt laws fairly seriously, b/c of the "Click-It, Or Ticket" campaign.  And I especially love the fact that his wife has "I told you so" bragging rights.  He's never gonna live this down.  

Holiday Cards 2010

2010 J. Wolf Original Holiday Cards.  This time I remembered to write down who got what.  Axe's card didn't scan well, but it looked really cool with shiny blood red paper under the punched out snowflakes.

Bah! Humbug!

The Top 10 Ways Christmas Has Changed Due to the Economy

10.  Twelve Days of Christmas now down to ten and a half.

9.  "Ho Ho Ho" now replaced with an exasperated sigh.

8.  Three out of Eight Maids A-Milking are unemployed.

7.  Yule log has to last all year.

6.  Frosty the Snowman now a depressed, melancholy soul.

5.  Letters to Santa include resumes.

4.  Tinsel recycled for cash money.

3.  People hoping to get coal in case gas gets shut off.

2.  Out of town company staying through next Christmas.

1.  Getting a meat and cheese assortment, not such a bad gift!

Well the holidays are looming and this will be the third Chrimbo that I won't be decorating.  Over and above being sick, it's just too much damn work.  While 2010 has been better than 2009, money is still very tight and times are still hard for so many people.

We were watching the news the other night, and found out that the Washington State Employment Development Department (EDD) made a huge calculation error with unemployment benefits, for people that started collecting 2+ years ago.  That explains why Brian was booted off in October, and why he is unable to get anyone at the State to call him back or respond to his email inquiries as to what's going on.   At least I am still bringing home an income, but the poor guy they interviewed on the news is single, over 50, has already lost his home, and now EDD told him, "too bad, so sad."  He said that he applies for tons of jobs, even for low paying ones, and either never hears back, or told that he's overqualified.

In October, one of the cartoons in the paper showed someone going into a costume shop and asking for the scariest Halloween costume they had.  The shopkeep retorts, "Over 50 and Unemployed".  Sometimes I think that some of my family and friends think Brian's just malingering or not trying.  I know he's trying, but there isn't anything out there.  Unemployment in Washington is just about 10%.  He just doesn't hear back from anyone, ever, about any jobs he applies for.  It's frustrating as hell for him.  My mom keeps saying, "he can't give up!"  But you know, after 2 and a half years of rejection after rejection, it's awful damn hard not to give up.  Plus his health problems are fairly significant, which limits the kind of work he can do.  

I used to be so into Chrimbo when times were good.  I would look forward to decorating and would do it on Thanksgiving weekend, so we'd have a whole month to enjoy it.  The last time we had a real tree was the year b/f we got Sagan, which was 2005.  I used to be able to cover the wood stove's brick pad with decorative candles and holiday snow globes.  I had a really cool smaller fake tree in the upstairs window and a large brass wire tree to hang my Radkos and the beaded balls I've made.  I used to put green (fake) pine garland around the wall that frames the picture window upstairs, and I hung beautiful glass balls from it.  Our tree ornaments are very unique and very fragile too.  My parents would give me a new one every year, starting the year I was born.  That makes many of them over 40 years old, aka, "antique".  I have one of an angel inside an eggshell that a neighbor gave me in 1973.  All these years and the egg has not been crushed.  I have a wax-face angel too.  And the star for the tree was bought in the early 50's.  There are several ones made of wood that I assembled from a kit when I was 9, also fragile.

Now, I love my little sweet Sagieboo to death.  And that's part of the reason I stopped decorating so much.  He's just so clumsy sometimes, and walks over the brick pad, dripping water from his dish, stepping on whatever's in his way.  He jumps around by the slider when he's excited.  He likes to roll around on the floor with toys in his mouth then wants you to play fetch with him.  He stands in the upstairs window, barking at perceived threats, often putting both front feet on the table to increase his height.  He races around the livingroom with his treats, leaping on and off 'his' couch.  He'll take the pad out of his upstairs bed and whip it around from side to side. Do you see where I'm going with this?  The breakable-ornament carnage would be unreal.  I decided that I'd rather not decorate, than to risk one of my precious and irreplaceable ornaments being shattered because Crash Craddock knocked over the tree or pulled down the garland.

Over and above the Enthusiastic Doggie Factor, it's just too much damn work to drag all that shit out.  We have a lot of decorations.  Tons of them.  They are all fragile and unique, and some of them are now antique.  They must be carefully wrapped and stored.  So unpacking them, and then putting them away, takes so much time and effort. It can take days to do it.  I always take everything down on the 26th, mostly because the real tree we always get is pretty much tinder by that time.  That means piles and piles of pine needles.  It's bad enough we're tracking them in from outside, without piles of tree needles too.   Last year when I didn't decorate, I promised myself that this year I would.  Now I'm promising myself that next year I will.  In my defense, I've noticed a marked decrease in the lights and decorations I see in my travels over the past couple of years too, although there is one house on the corner that looks like Chrimbo threw up on it.  I'm going to have to take pictures of it and post it.  I can see maybe having one of those blow up lawn ornaments, but man alive, these people have about 10 of them.  The inflatable Joseph, Mary & Jesus is particularly disturbing.

I'm just not feelin it.  At all.  I want to.  I was trying to...but it's not happening.  I can't force myself into it.  It's more trouble than it's worth. So it seems that the sum total of my holiday spirit will be the 35 holiday cards I made, and will be posting soon.  Card making is something I do enjoy, and I was actually quite bummed out when I finished making them!  But the decorating just ain't happenin' this year.  I know come the afternoon of December 25th I'll be very glad I made the decision not to put it up, because now I won't have to put it all away.

Silkie Sue's Christmas Giveaway!!!

I am pleased to send a shout out to promo my friends Sam & Silkie Sue's Christmas Giveaway!  As you know, I entered, and won, her last giveaway and am the proud recipient of Mouse.  This is YOUR chance to win sweet Little Sue, seen here.  

Please do visit her blog, Silkie Sue, and say hi, promo her contest and/or link her to your own blog if you can.  That will enter you in her contest.  Sam is a gifted artist and her creations are not only whimsical, but adorable.  You can't help falling in love with her work, especially if you love animals. Don't miss this opportunity.  Good luck to all of you and let's give Little Sue a new forever home!  

On The Street Behind The Street Where I Live

Looking down 190th Avenue East, the street behind me.

Some of these pics were taken before we had the wind storm and snow, and some after.

I love this house.

A protective pup that was barking its head off at Pepper and me in the street.

*sniff sniff sniff*

Before anyone thinks it was romantic for someone to put "I heart Elma" on their truck, Elma is the name of a  town in Grays Harbor County.

Reflections on Birthday Gifts Past

So I just turned twenty-twenty six the other day.  No hoopla.  I'm not really hoopla people.  We kicked around going out to lunch but I didn't wanna get out of my jammies so we watched college football and enjoyed the rainy, wintery day.  I was tickled by the messages left for me on my Facebook wall.  Some of my friends hoped the weather was cold and rainy, "just the way you like it."  That made me laugh.  I wonder how many other people love rain so much that their friends hope the weather is crappy for their special day?  Ah dew loves mah rayne.  UW Huskies beat the Cal Bears (my 2 fave teams) with 1 second left on the game clock, 4th and goal. Incredible way to end the game.  I got cards and calls, including a recorded musical birthday greeting from our State Farm agent, which was strange to say the least.

I opened my gifties and we got to talking about the 'ghosts of gifts past'.  Brian has always, for the most part, gotten me really good gifts.  (I say 'for the most part'.  I'll get to that later).  This is due in large part to a system we've employed since after our 2nd Christmas together.  I get tons of catalogs during the year.  I fill out the order forms, put a stamp on the envelope and clip a pre-made-out check to it. All he has to do is sign the check, stuff it in the envelope and mail it. Wrap when received.  I usually give him the order forms in the late summer or early fall, which is why when the gifts are opened, I don't have a clue what I wanted, except in general terms.  Like I know there was something from the Signals catalog, but can't remember what it was.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy, right?  

If you are like me, and not too many people are, you are a compulsive list-maker.  When Brian hands me a catalog with gift ideas circled, I dutifully type a list.  And not just a list, but a table that I create in Word Perfect with the gift item and the total cost so that I can keep track of our holiday budget.  I know what's in the boxes as they arrive, and always unpack them to make sure everything is correct.  Brian, on the other hand, waits till he is going to wrap the gift (which is usually the night before or morning of the holiday) to see what was on the order forms, because he didn't write it down.  

This has lead to a fair bit of head scratching, and a great bit of frustration, on his part, as he opens the boxes.  There was the year that I had filled out an order form with all kinds of weird, but inexpensive, stuff from a science-nature catalog.  I haven't gotten the catalog in ages and I can't remember what it was called, but it was brilliant.  One of the items was a sack of break-your-own-geode rocks.  Except to Brian, it looks like a sack of dusty rocks.  "ROCKS?  WTF??  SERIOUSLY?  ROCKS?"  The next item he unwraps is a package of charcoal pellets which was for use with a small metal cauldron that was ordered from a different catalog.  But again, because he did not make a list, he's like, "Charcoal?  Charcoal pellets?  What is she doing to me here!"  Then he opens another envelope and there's a Grateful Dead themed window cling sticker.  "A WINDOW CLING STICKER IS NOT A GIFT!"  The next item he unpacked was called "Dirty Old Coins"...Poor man nearly threw a clot.   He told me that the reason he ends up with a panic attack over my gift selection is that it's the morning of my birthday and he's finally seeing what's in the boxes and is horrified.  For the last 21 years I've said over and over, "So why didn't you just make a list and unpack them as they came in?"  He looks at me like I've just said something in Swedish.

This year the source of his confusion was a set of jewelry ephemera booklets.  I loved them.  I exclaimed "EPHEMERA!"  He's searching my face, thinking, 'is that a good EPHEMERA or a bad EPHEMERA?'  I was thumbing through the pages, cooing, "ooooooh pweeeettttyyyyyyyyy".  He goes, "OK can I ask you something?  What the fuck is ephemeral and is it a good thing?"  I said, "EphemerA are cool tiny art bits for making vintage looking jewelry, ornaments, etc. You use them with mini frames and encase them behind small pieces of glass."  He goes, "So you know what it is then?"  "Uh, yuh."   Phew. I can see it in his eyes:  Another gift-bullet dodged.  Then I added, "Remember a couple years ago when you gave me that copper metal tape?  That's what I use it for."  The copper metal tape was another gift that left him wondering what in the Sam Freakin Hill I was thinking.  

One Christmas a few years ago, I opened the CD of one of my favourite albums, "Architecture & Morality" by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.  Brian scoffs at most 80's music...he calls the 80's "The Great Black Period of Music".  He was all about Led Zeppelin when he was 16; I was all about the Sex Pistols when I was 16.  He has no idea who "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark" is, and only knows them as OMD. He never actually saw the band's name written out before.  He thought it was a DVD of some weird movie or show.  Again, he's searching my face for reaction.  'YAY!!!!!  OhmygodIlovethisalbum!!!! Thank you!!!!"  He relaxes, "So you've heard of this?"  "Of course, it's one of my fave albums.  Reminds me soooo much of my senior year in high school" I say, ripping the plastic off so that I can listen to "Joan of Arc".  He says, "So, it's music?"  I turned around, and said, "Duh, what did you think it was?" He goes, "I don't know! I never heard of this before! I thought it was some architecture show or movie or something!  I opened the box and thought, 'this can't be right....'"

Poor lad.  Does try.  That's not to say that we haven't had our fair share of clunker gifts, which we laugh about now.  Let's face it, men just aren't good at the gift thing.  Sure, a few guys get it right all the time, but not many do.  Most men wait until December 24th to do their shopping.  The first Christmas we were together, he got me, among other things, a chemistry set.  I was perplexed.  Because we always save what we think is the best gift for last, that was my last gift.  I never took chemistry in high school or college, and I never aspired towards the sciences.  Esp. since I suck at math.  

Then the following year he got me a giant colouring book of Andy Warhol designs.  I never understood that one either because never in my life did I ever say that I liked Warhol.   Just cause I'm a Deadhead and love the 60's doesn't automatically mean that I loved Andy Warhol too.  Last year he had a major anxiety attack over my birthday gifts, withdrew money from the bank account, and standing at the bank, literally halfway between Ben Franklin Crafts and Fred Meyer, he opted to go to Fred Meyer's toy dept. and get me board games.  Board.  Games.  In fact, it was around this time last year that I was kicking around doing a blog post called "Bored Games", about all the annoying holiday commercials for games, because who does game night, really?  The only reason I didn't do it is that I didn't want to rub salt in the wound, should Brian read my blog. 

If I've told him once I've told him a million times:  If you are having trouble w/ a gift idea, there's always a Ben Franklin gift card.  No amount is too small.  Even a $20 is appreciated. I think I'm pretty easy to please.  Instead, he keyed in on one innocuous sentence I made during a commercial, weeks earlier that, "I used to like playing Battleship when I was a kid".  That somehow translated to:  "Please get me Battleship for my birthday".  I can be hinting up a storm about something I really want, and it goes right over his head.  But one teeny, tiny comment made in passing and that's what he decides to buy.  It's a behavior that I actually find fascinating.  Back in California I apparently once said that I could use a little red wagon to haul around my craft supplies.  I got a Radio Flyer for Christmas.  I was so confused.  He goes, "remember?  when you said....?"  I was like, 'Oh, um, yeah....I guess.... if you say so..."

Anyway getting back to my birthday last year, I don't even remember what the other 2 games were because I've blocked it from my memory, since all 3 went back to the store.  I snuck out to Fred Meyer before Brian woke up the next day to return them. I told the customer service clerk that I felt so awful returning the gifts....but seriously, Battleship?  For a 45 year old woman? Who was an only child and only rarely played board games?  Brian came from a family that had regular game night events.  My family was soooo not like that.  My mom hated games and my dad used to crush me at Monopoly to the point where I would be in tears because I just wanted to buy the pretty properties, and he was putting hotels on Boardwalk and owned all the railroads.  I was out of money, and he'd be leaning over the board, picking through my pitiful, cheap, purple and light blue properties, taking them in lieu of what I owed for landing on yet another a hotel. Then laughing at me as I got a "Go Directly to Jail" card.  My mom is hissing, 'Johnny!  She's just a child! She doesn't understand the point of the game!"  I'm horribly scarred by those game experiences.  I loved my dad to pieces, but I saw another side of him whenever he played Monopoly.  The only game I've ever consistently loved is Trivial Pursuit.

But on the upside, Brian's also gotten me some amazing, super surprises that he thought of all on his own.  Like in 1994 for my 30th birthday, he had a 49ers jersey specially made with Brent Jones' name and #84 on it.  We couldn't find a Niners jersey w/ his name at that time and there was no search engine back then either.  You could only get Steve Young, Jerry Rice....Joe Montana.  So he had a sports shop in San Rafael silk screen "84" on the front and "JONES 84" on the back of a plain 49ers jersey.  A couple years ago he got me a beautiful glass paperweight with a satelite view of Cape Cod.  There was also one year where he got me a beautiful stained glass Christmas tree lamp.  And he also got me my very first Christopher Radko glass ornament.  For my 40th birthday he bought me the most unique past, present & future diamond pendant that I have ever seen.  They are in the shape of snowflakes and he had it on layaway for months as he chipped away at it.  It also came from a local, mom and pop jewelry store and they were the only ones who had anything that unique.  That jewelry store is now, sadly, out of business.  I am not a woman who has ever asked for, or expected, diamond jewelry.  That's what makes that necklace so special.  He did it because he wanted to give me something really nice and special, not because I am one of those women who nag and goad and guilt trip their husbands into buying expensive jewelry.

I know it's the thought that counts and believe me I do appreciate it.  I just find it amusing that the "Guy Giving Gift to Girl" thing seems to be the same across the board, since it seems most women have great stories about gift gaffes. 

Oh, and besides the ephemera, he also got me a silver crescent moon dragon pendant, a blue sparkly whale and ocean themed shirt and a Doctor Who mug, that has a TARDIS on one side that disappears with hot water, and which reappears on the other side of the mug.  Too bad it also doesn't make the TARDIS noise too! lol  

On The Street Where I Live

I took Pepper out for walkies and decided to bring my camera, since I don't really have many pics of my street.

I wish I had the talent to paint like this!

Kitteh keeping a watchful eye on Pepper who was too busy sniffing to notice.

Thundercloud plum tree

She does love to sniff.