Thursday, June 28, 2012

My new footwear - go, America, GO!

I needed new sneakers - like, I needed them around Christmas, but kept putting it off, putting it off ...

My needs are fairly specific:  wide-width;  Velcro-close ... so, a few weeks ago now, not really finding much of anything around these parts, I decided to go online ... 

Quickly I found that they are in very basic, deadly-dull colors: you have your options of white (nurse!), or black (fast-food worker!) ... oh wait I got lucky - bone!.... Now, I didn't have a problem with paying a few dollars for a decent shoe (which I really do need with my health issues!) -- in finding this shoe that I'm now happy w/, wearing around, I'm going to give shameless plugs (read: non-sponsered post) to two companies that made this possible:

The first is Zappos.com.  While I didn't mind paying in the 60 to 70 dollar range for these sneakers, I was not too happy about ten bucks to get it shipped to my door!  And then I found Zappos - NO SHIPPING!!!  Also, when I spoke to a customer service representative, I would have been happy if she was professional - I was over-the-moon when she was personable!  You don't find those too often!!!  I learned from her part of the corporate culture of Zappos:  not wanting any worker (especially but not limited to graveyard shift) to fall asleep @ the wheel and have a wreck - they have a nap room!  NOW THAT'S A COMPANY I CAN SUPPORT!!!

The brand I ordered was New Balance ...

When the shoes arrived and I went to cut the labels off, I saw they had a MADE IN AMERICA label .. curious, I went up to the New Balance website ...

Now let me tell you this:  I lived for a couple of years in Maine ... and one of the things I can tell you is that there are alot of pockets of severe economic need, especially the higher-up you travel, with some politicos thinking people can actually support families on tourist (read: minimum wage) jobs! ....NEW BALANCE HAS THREE  FACTORIES IN MAINE, IN THESE AREAS.  THEY PROVIDE A LIVING WAGE TO PEOPLE WHO REALLY, REALLY NEED IT AND WHO HAVE FEW OTHER OPTIONS BEYOND MOVING AWAY!

GO, NEW BALANCE, GO!!!!!!!!  I seriously had no clue - but now I do, now you do.  

I've found a brand AND I've found an online purveyor, too :)

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Laundry Day

As I was unloading the dryer @ the laundromat just about a half hour ago now (not even ...), a woman came in ... now, she was maybe a little bit older than me... and hey! she looked far better than I did!  Her hair was neatly pinned-up (and colored) ; she wore lipstick, earrings, and clean clothes

and she walked slowly and w/ a limp

I smiled and kept unloading 

I get out in the parking lot and I see her going over  to the back of an SUV w/ one of those wheeled laundry carts they have ... and I happen to notice, even w/ her tinted windows, that she had so much laundry -well! if I dragged out all the laundry I have, it would look like that, too!

I'm thinking to myself, she's alone, she's limping ... alright, let me get my laundry in my front seat and I'll help her ...

I happen to turn around from doing so and I'm looking right into her front seat (which doesn't have tinted windows) and I realize

oh my good God she's living out of this vehicle

I got to see maybe my near future in the parking lot laundromat today ... the well-dressed version, that is. 

Monday, June 25, 2012

Not just another fashion blogger

but a young woman w/ a fascinating pedigree and quotes by her photos that make you stop and think - and - you have no choice but to stop ... because you can't breathe.

http://eskimoanney.blogspot.com/

Sunday, June 24, 2012

CoCo & The Sculpture Fountain


So CoCo and I went to sit this afternoon in a nice- shady spot: a part of the Peace Garden on the side of the United Methodist Church two buildings down from ours ...

This was a part we hadn't sat in before ... and they have a sculptural fountain, that continually runs water ...

CoCo sniffed the air ... looked confused ...

Cautiously, she walked over (it was well within leash range) ... delicately, she sniffed from an inch away ... and then turned and looked at me with a WHAT THE?!! expression ...

Ah! This is where she and I equally miss Myndie!  Myndie would have plunged right in, tail wagging, tongue hanging, splashing with her paws - and CoCo following!

Very cautiously, CoCo decided to stick her nose in ... and ... what a look of astonishment!  MOM, MY NOSE IS WET!!!

I was really cracking up laughing by this point ;)  and I said, "Go on!  I don't think it'll kill ya to drink out of it!"

No, she's not too sure ... but maybe ... soon ...

Saturday, June 23, 2012

FASHION JAPAN: Marina - the pen tattoo isn't even startling ...

FASHION JAPAN: Marina (Shibuya-Tokyo-Bubbles-FRUIT OF THE LOOM-Converse-Malaica)

Don't Stop Believin from Afghanistan - note "the dead guy" in the back ;)

Questions ... part 2




Where did you grow up? NJ

  What's an odd habit of yours. If I'm having alot of anxiety, I can greatly reduce it if I just very carefully arrange stacks of paper-related items (newspapers, books, et al)

  Favorite TV show? I go through phases. Currently I'm watching alot of West Wing,; you can check into my Hulu account -that'll tell you alot ;)

 What type of cellphone do you use? A Tracphone I was blessed w/ as a gift, after being phoneless for a year +

 How tall are you? 5' 8'' and mebbe a quarter BUT if I go to the chiropractor, I'm 5'9" ;)
  What's a talent of yours? Writing!
 Favorite accessory? I have a cross and necklace my beloved Dad gave me that I wear all the time.  As for accessories to put on, I forget them alot, and, I really love them! especially a gift watch.
One daring fashion trend you'd like to try? The high-low dress. Some of them look like a drunk person sewed them, tho ;-

Friday, June 22, 2012

watching the smoke dance

Two good Samaritans make Perth Amboy rescue | Video | 7online

Two good Samaritans make Perth Amboy rescue | Video | 7online

Who the hell swims in the Raritan Bay?!  Ahhh, kids!  A touching story - bring out the tissues!

A hand-y means of prayer

It later became a running joke between me and a friend I'll call "D" :  we were in the same room for a meeting ... it was  before the start ... she was sitting across the room from me ... and ... she started waving at me, so, ok, I walked over - "What?" and she said "What?" and we went back and forth before we both realized -- she wasn't waving at me! she was putting on hand lotion, and the way she worked it between her fingers was to clasp her hands together and wave them around ...yeahhh, just like you wave at a friend ;)  LOL!

And I have found this a hand-y means of prayer.

This is nothing new ; I've seen variations on this theme written in places like Daily Guideposts, for example, where the writer talked about remembering who gave her what in her well-appointed home and praying for the giver whenever she used said object ...

My method is when I put on lotion --

When I wave it in, I remember to always pray for "D" and her special-needs son.

Would love to hear how YOU adapt this!!!

Nanny Charlotte (see the comments for why I'm posting this)

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Glyndebourne Festival - Advanced Style blog

Glyndebourne Festival

The first post on this page talks about how women have told this author that they feel invisible after 40.  I've felt invisible for a number of years and in fact 99.2% of the time, I dress like it!  I think that's why I like this blog: it swoops me up, makes me feel hopeful!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

thank jeebus

....is what I said (thereabouts) when my upstairs neighbors moved out -- 

Now, f2f, they were a nice couple!  Loved their dog!

The problem was "boots".

I think perhaps because the guy was maybe all of five foot four (that's my best guess because a few times I deliberately stood next to him and my mother was five four, so, see, I can guess by where a person comes up to on me) but he was one into wearing these heavy-soled boots - like military boots.  Like I swear they had to be triple-soled each layer w/ lifts and steel toes besides.  Seriously - if anyone knows a brand like this, please leave it in the comments!

Because he would go upstairs and STOMP STOMP STOMP -- to where I've had pictures fall off the wall ... to where CoCo has gotten scared and ran and hid ... to where I've had bouts of yelling up MUST YOU BANG!

So last night my next-door neighbor said to me, "You have someone new over you."  I knew that - I heard them moving in.  Then my neighbor said, "You know who it is."

OH NO ITS -- BOOTS!

Yeahhh, I've already heard it on the stairs right outside my living room window ....

 

Monday, June 11, 2012

Questions ... on turning 49

I saw these questions answered by a blogger who arrives in my email as "Sugar Coat It ...", so I thought in honor of my birthday, I would answer them, too !

1. You’re taking a three month holiday, no expenses spared, do you cruise the oceans or fly the skies?
 Cruise, I say !
2. If you could ask God for one world-wide miracle, what would it be?
A complete end to every single variety of lying.
3. Would you choose sky diving or deep sea diving? (why?)
Neither!  Love the ocean but I'd rather watch videos of deep sea divers than actually participate!. 
4. Would you choose having your wishes granted or having the power to grant wishes?
. This question actually made me pause - let me be more specific: my personal answer, to this question, is what made me pause!  For almost all of my life I would say 'the power to grant wishes' (and not because of my name and some cheesy 60s tv show, either, lol!) but as I get older and see more of how the world operates, I've become more and more insular and I would say 'my wishes granted'.  And that makes me pause, because I realize what I've become ... and I just feel too world-weary-knowledgable to be able to go back the other direction.
5. If you could pick a song to be a world anthem, what would it be?
What A Wonderful World
6. Do you dream in black and white or colour?
Colour. 
7. Three-course meals or one-pot dinners?
At home one pot dinners. Out, three course meals. It might have to do with the amount of dishes involved.  - I have to totally agree w/ the blogger here!!!
8. Do you menu plan, shop for two weeks worth of ingredients, then serve up toast and jam for dinner?
No meal plan here. I'm just one person!. 
9. Do you dye your hair a totally different colour from what nature intended?
No. 
10. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose?
Someplace by the ocean, perferably w/ seasons - most likely the Jersey Shore. 
11. Do you change your home decor to suit the seasons or do you just leave things as they are year in year out?
My decor is fairly standard throughout the year. If there’s a change it’s not seasonal at all. Just when the urge takes me to rearrange stuff. - again, totally agreeing w/ the blogger!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

I'm Tryin' Not to get too excited, but

Overcast today- alot of barometric pressure.  Went back to bed this morning because my poor legs were so sore ;-

When I was asleep, I had this dream ... it was about one of the kids from next-door summers ... now, it wasn't a dream about us being kids: it was a dream about the two of us sitting down and looking at things tempered by an adult's viewpoint, looking at the bitter things especially, but there were laughs in there, as well ...

Now, it was a very strong, clearly defined, dream.

And I put alot of stock in dreams.

I went up on Facebook.  I found his oldest brother - would never have picked him out of a crowd as being whom he was except the smile was identical!  Sent him and two others I found (that I wouldn't have picked out of a crowd, neither, one especially so) a message.   Some of the geographical locations I saw supported people's "Jean there's a good reason why" people said when I grew angry that I never got a card or phone call when my Dad died - my Dad who was their beloved Uncle Artie, a real father figure in a dearth of positive adult role models.

Where I'm trying not to get too excited isn't with my dream and my reaction to it -that's quite normal for me, to have someone come back into my life like that and for me to take it seriously, to pray for them, and/or to look for them -- what I'm trying not to get too excited about is this:  how often I have refound people online and either its been a bust -I thought we'd be close again and I'm lucky if I even see game notifications from them on my wall - and then other times - well - mebbe I just didn't need to know how the story turned out, after all ....

I'm trying not to get too excited that this time will be different ; that we'll reconnect in the everyday and be close once again ...


Sunday, June 3, 2012

An Antidote to the May 11th post

Since that all happened, I'm very - particular - about how and where I walk CoCo:  opposite side of the street, for one thing ... 

During our regular walk, I wave to this elderly couple that sits outside in the shade - they have an older house, and outside the kitchen is a covered breezeway area, and that's where they 'perch' -- they can see out to the street, so when CoCo and I walk by, they wave ...

Well yesterday I was quite surprised to see the woman coming down her driveway - walking stick and lavender casuals from the Blair catalog, and all!  We stopped to chat.  She's 88 years old, God love her!  Her arthritis was making her stiff, so she got up to move around.  She petted CoCo, asked where I lived, and all of that alone would have been very nice!  but then 

Then she invited us to come back sometime and sit a spell with her and her husband!

She said, "We can talk about good times, your times, my times, bad times, all times!" 

She was so sweet.  And so symbolic of a big part of the reason WHY I moved back to the Shenandoah Valley!!!  I have to say, her neighbor across the way is not the way things usually go - I knew that, of course!

but its always good to have a reminder! <3