I Need a Time Machine

It’s that time of year again. Pretty soon, little ghouls and princesses will be coming around to get their fix of sugar, and after that, little family members will be coming around for turkey and pie, and after that….

It doesn’t bear thinking about right now.

I tend to do most of my creative stuff during the fall. I admit I like to dress up in costumes to greet the unsuspecting innocents trick-or-treaters. I am never scary intentionally. Notice the use of the word, “intentionally”. It matters. This year, I was toying with the idea of doing a Steampunk costume. I do own *ahem* some of the accoutrements needed, not to mention I can fashion out a wicked set of goggles in a snap, plus I’m pretty handy with glue and needles.

Costume by La Licorne Ailee via Deviantart

And as totally cool as that would be, I am more than 100% sure that most of the kids wouldn’t even know what my costume represents. I could always fall back on the ever-reliable Roman toga, but then I run the risk of kids yelling “ANIMAL HOUSE!!!”, when they should NOT know about that at their age. It’s a quandary. Oh well…never too late to start planning, right?

Time to rummage through the fixtures at Home Depot™ 😀

Calm Down

I ain’t dead.

I have been making flowers hosting guests doing school projects relaxing, and didn’t have much to say today.

Oh, the chair out on my lawn is empty, by the way.

Also, I think these are under my skin.

I can see a lot of orders for these in school colors in my future, and they look awesome in grey, in case any moms from the “other” school are wondering.

I may need an intervention 😉

Pinterhell

I swear to all that is holy, I had to have been a magpie in another life.

A lot of my friends have Pinterest accounts. I don’t. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t access it. Anyone can, and it is made easier by the addition of sections, such as “home decor”, “foods”, “posters”, etc. A friend of mine posted a really cute idea for a table centerpiece, which necessitated I click on it, which then took me to a board called “Miscellaneous crafts & DIY for the home“.

Three hours later, I awoke from my daze. Two hours after that, I returned from the local craft and hobby store after getting supplies for numerous projects: felt flowers, “mercury” glass, paper flowers, tissue canvas project, lamp re-do, etc. The best part: I already have so much crafting crap, I didn’t need to buy a lot!

Courtesy of The Shabby Creek Cottage.

I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. Every single time I have good intentions on cleaning up my mess upstairs, something like this happens and all my plans go out the window, which is where Hubby wants to throw most of the mess, anyway. Seriously, y’all remember this, right?

From the mess upstairs that I still have to clean up before Nomstress arrives. Well, guess what? After Pinterest, it miraculously turned into this:

This Pinterest does not bode well for me, I can tell. On the other hand, it does inspire me to create new things with stuff on hand, and gives me ideas for gift-giving. This may be the cheapest least expensive Christmas season ever!!

I just hope no one in my family catches on 😉

Finding Treasures

I must be the geekiest mom ever.

As I was setting up the mini laptop on the vanity, I noticed that there were some books available to read. Some not so well-known, like Houses of Stone, by Barbara Michaels. As light as it sounds, I will have to pass, in favor of the book right next to it:

Volume IX of the Encyclopedia Brittanica Great Books, Aristotle II.

Courtesy of Matthew Was Prey.

During my senior year in high school, our *ahem* petite virago known as our English V teacher was a devout follower of Mortimer J. Adler, who collected the works of influential writers into volumes called The Great Books. A philosopher and educator, he was most famous for his writings geared in layman’s terms. He claimed to write for people, not for academics, since they always wrote to each other. He also came up with the concept of The Great Ideas, words defined by the individual, such as “Beauty”, “Truth”, and ironically, “Idea”. Our English teacher was very adamant that we learn the concepts. Several exams can attest to that!

I never got around to reading the second volume of Aristotle’s works. I always meant to, but Life got in the way. And Fate, being the finicky weaver she is, has decided that I must finish what I started. It is no coincidence that this volume contains Politica and Rhetorica.

Who says I don’t love a little light reading?? 😉

Craving Denied

My day started off at the social-site-with-faces, where a friend posted a status about loving all her friends. She is a sweet woman, and a wonderful cook, and I miss her SO MUCH because she had a catering business here, but she went and moved to Virginia leaving me prostrate with grief and no, I don’t mean like the male gland, ok?? Anyway, she posted that and I felt obliged to respond:

Friend: I LOVE YOU ALL!!! ♥

Me: I ♥ you so much that when I see a tres leches cake, I yell at it and call it an impostor.

Friend: HAHAHAAA! Lord, how I miss you!!!!! ♥

Me: I think I am banned from several bakeries, too.

So now I want a slice or five of tres leches cake, and she made the best, and I am grieving because FINALLY I have an appetite and I can’t have the bestest cake evah.

Deliciousness courtesy of Narima’s Cuisine

Look at it. Just look at it!!! I think I gained two pounds and a cavity just looking. Oh, how I miss you, my friend.

And you too, Narima 😉

My Name is Aggie, and I Remember EVERYTHING

It’s a gift, and a curse.

I was blessed with a very good memory. Well, some call it a blessing. I call it The Curse of a Thousand Gnats. Why? Because that’s what it feels like, to have so much stuff floating around in my grey matter. Seriously, who cares if actress Jennifer Tilly is a poker champion? Or that there are 119 grooves in a U.S. quarter? Or that there are 20 kisses described in the Kama Sutra?

Ok, that last one may be helpful. Don’t ask how I know.

The other day, we were visiting my sister’s and Hubby remarked that the only other people he personally knew to have owned boxer dogs were his grandparents.

Hubby: She was a very nice dog. Gypsy.

Me: No, her name was Queenie.

Hubby: Are you sure?

Me: Yep. I never met Gypsy, only Queenie.

Hubby: Crap, I’m losing it.

And it’s not just useless trivia and random memories. It’s remembering what my 23 year old niece was wearing the last time I saw her, when she was a toddler. It’s remembering the last view of my grandmother as we drove away. It’s remembering the scent of the flowers at a friend’s grave.

But it’s also remembering the first time Hubby kissed me. And it’s also remembering the nail polish I wore on my wedding day as Hubby slipped the ring on my finger. And it’s remembering the joy at holding each of my babies in my arms for the first time. Sometimes memories serve to remind us of the wonderful successes and even the tragic failures we have experienced so that we may better appreciate the paths we have chosen.

I just wish sometimes I could stop remembering that the shoelace tip is called an aglet 😉

Temptations, and Why Chocolate Always Wins

Apart from the Voodoo List™ and the Things To Do Before I Die List™, I should also have the Things With Which I Should Not Be Trusted List™.

You didn’t really expect me to end that last one in a preposition, did you??

Anyway, as I was cleaning up the kitchen area, I noticed that the King Sized Kit Kat® Bar From Hades was still on the windowsill, where Hubby left it. I got that for him weeks ago. And it’s still there. Looking at me. Tempting me with its delicious, wafery goodness covered in tantalizing chocolate. I hear the siren song and feel the need to partake. But it’s Hubby’s bar.

And then it hit me. What if this is a test of willpower???

Aside patience, willpower is my forte. I have plenty of it. I can beat this. Oh yes, I can. And I will.

Right after I go to the grocery store and get my own. You didn’t think I would eat his chocolate bar, did you? I have scruples 😉

Things I Miss

Yesterday I was having a nice chat with a dear friend and it hit me: I miss a lot of stuff. No, I don’t mean that I need target practice. I mean that there are things I miss from my life and wish I could have them again.

I miss the sound of coquís, I miss having the choice of mountain or beach. I miss being able to walk into town for lunch or to see what’s going on in the plaza. I miss the ability to get in a car and drive to the river.

I’m thinking it’s time I flew to Puerto Rico for a visit 😉

Not. My. Day.

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to get out of bed.

Usually I wake up gradually and lay there quietly, planning out my day before the alarm goes off. Well, not this morning. I woke up from a really weird dream. It wasn’t bad, and it wasn’t good. Basically I was working for an obscure government outfit on loss prevention and alien apprehension. The “out of this world” kind, I mean. And I was at t he PX doing rounds when I stopped to watch a bunch of little drummer girls and one of them really, REALLY loved her pillow and talked to it, and one little boy made fun of it, and then a freakin’ tentacle slithers out of the pillow and grabs his wee-wee, and I pull it off, yelling at people to stand back as I get my gun out and start shooting at it, yelling at someone not to use the machete because the alien is like a hydra and would someone PLEASE bring me a lighter and a can of Aqua-Net©?? Whereupon after emptying two clips I promptly set the thing on fire.

Anyway, the point is I woke up all disoriented, and was not all here when I went to do the tea and coffee ritual. I grabbed the carafe and filter, and proceeded to dump the grounds in the sink, which is not necessarily bad, until you realize that you dumped the last of the coffee in the garbage can. So I reach down with some paper towels to sop up the mess, forgetting that the greasy foil from the baked salmon was in there. So now I had a very greasy, fishy arm to clean. Fine…FINE!!! I wash it off and start the coffeemaker and finish Hubby’s tea, and go to make the bed and set out his clothes. So I set out his shirt and pants, and then make the bed, forgetting the clothes are on it. Sigh…. undo bed, remove clothes, redo bed.

So finally I get my cup of coffee, and drink it scalding hot, because I do NOT have time to waste. I have to get back to my state of “normal” so I can take my mom shopping for groceries. She is cooking tonight, and I sure as heck do NOT want anything to interfere with that!!!

Last thing I need is to slip on a grape at the store and end up in traction, missing her pork roast 😉

Accidental Tourist

I was reading my List of Things To Do Before I Die™, remembering why I had placed certain activities, places, and things on it, when I came across this one:

#53– El Hierro, Islas Canarias

I still have relatives that live in the Canary Islands (which are not named for the bird, by the way). El Hierro, also known as Ferro, is the westernmost island of the group, and for a time was considered the westernmost point of the known world, as well as being the prime meridian.

El Hierro has no beaches, only rocky shores. That’s the main gulf of the island above. As I read my list, I tried to think of why on Earth I wanted to go there. It’s stark and sparse in population, and remote from the other islands.

And that’s the reason I wanted to go. To stand there, facing the ocean alone and unafraid, looking at what ancestors considered the end of the world would be humbling to my soul, and inspiring to my spirit. Sure, I would love to see beautiful places in the world. Who doesn’t?? But to be there, on the edge of the world, facing a setting Sun…that would be a thrill of a lifetime 🙂