Why ever not

There will always be something that needs doing.
Always the chores – whatever yours may be….
 the deadlines, the paperwork
the wood splitting, the dusting, the vacuuming, the dishwashing and laundry..
the picking up and dropping off and despositing and withdrawing
the garbage removal,  the lawn mowing, the leaf raking
 the 9-5 grind..
The commute, the coffee run, the..(fill in the remaining blanks)
But is this all there is to life?
Absolutely not, I mean, what would be the point? 
So why is it hard to allow ourselves the time to just sit ..and be. 
Why is it “wasting time” if you’re doing nothing in particular?
Yesterday, after having been at Dog Days for three days…
and a teenage sleepover..
my house was a mess and I needed to get it back in some order. 
It was so warm and inviting out on the porch around 2pm 
that I decided to go out for a half hour and finish a great book. 
Why was I hoping no one would catch me – just sitting– in the middle of the day?

I loved this book – great read! I miss the characters already.


Bravo, Rob Delaney

 I am no fan of celebrity nonsense, such as Jersey Shore trash, most of reality TV and especially the Kardashian craze, which bewilders me completely, because … what have they done for ANYONE lately. Or ever? …. Why are they so fantabulous in the American eye.  Why do we give them such a platform?  It’s embarassing to me that this is part of the face of America…and don’t fool yourself by thinking any differently. It’s sad, people.  When are we all going to rise above and end this crap for good?  It’s easy enough, just don’t watch it!  If you’re actually a fan, can you please tell me why?  No sarcasm intended, here… I really want to know.   

 I read this guy’s article this morning and I’m reposting here, just because he hits the nail on the head. I hope he follows through.  I did clean it up some, because he’s a bit more vulgar than I care to post here.

Take a Stroll… with Rob Delaney –
I Am Suing Kim Kardashian

I wish to formally announce that I am suing Kim Kardashian to stop her divorce from Kris Humphries. I am also suing Ryan Seacrest, E! Entertainment Television, and Comcast for promoting their sham marriage, bilking advertisers, and polluting the airwaves of America and every other nation unfortunate enough to be subject to the disease of Kardashia.

HOW I IMAGINE THEIR “WEDDING” WAS PITCHED:

“I know! We’ll have Kim get married! It’ll be a ratings bonanza! We’ll bludgeon the populace with billboards and commercials, build it up across our 14 execrable spinoffs, hire some psychologists to help Kim and Kompany approximate the appearance of human emotion as they navigate the wedding preparation, split the actual wedding over two interminable episodes—even accompany them on the honeymoon! And the best part is, it doesn’t even have to be real! We’ll have Kris (Humphries, not Kris Jenner, Kim’s mom (though having her marry her own mom once ratings start to slide IS a great idea!!!)) sign a pre-nup that is also a non-disclosure agreement AND a waiver stating that if he even talks in his sleep about the “marriage’s” details, he’ll be beaten, drugged, and given a facelift from the same doctor who did Bruce Jenner, and then forced to walk the Earth terrifying children and animals for eternity.”

POSSIBLY THE GREATEST MAGAZINE COVER OF ALL TIME

Ryan Seacrest is the executive producer of the 22 existing Kardashian programs. Please revel in this amazing quote from him, which recently appeared on the cover of PRODUCED BY magazine, the official magazine of the highly principled and ever-honest Producers Guild of America:

WHAAAAAAAT?! A lot of people toss the word “irony” around without really knowing its precise definition. This quote, from this person, is its precise definition. William Shakespeare would have been like, “Damn bro, I can’t top that.” I’m glad he’s been dead for 400 years and can only see it through a time-telescope that Leonardo da Vinci made for him on his 300th birthday.

THE MEAT OF THE MATTER

I digress. I guess I’m just nervous because I’ve never sued anyone before, and this is not a joke. I AM suing Kim Kardashian and the others mentioned above. It is alleged that Kim Kardshian was paid $18 million to participate in her own wedding. I feel like schools could use that money. Or health clinics in areas hit hardest by the recession. Or Pizza Hut. Or Bernie Madoff. Or my uncle Mitchell, who is a convicted sex offender making a living selling Percocet to the elderly in Rhode Island.

Also, quitting your marriage now is a rather public admission that you are very, very bad at the job you were hired to do. I will be surprised if the venerable fashion house Sears renews your “design” contract.

I don’t mind that Kim Kardashian got married. I don’t mind that she did it on TV.   I a little bit mind that, as a non-viewer of any of the 61 Kardashian programs, I had to see the billboards every day as I drove to work. But I could forgive that if Kim gave her marriage a real go. I’ve been married for five years. To the same woman. I’ve wanted to divorce her at times. She’s wanted to divorce me at times. But one great thing about marriage, when it’s entered by regular folks, in good faith, is that it’s hard to exit. It costs money. You have to talk to lawyers during business hours except whoops—you have a job that you need to earn money to buy food and pants—so when are you going to both take the time to do that? By the time you’d have gotten around to it, you’ve forgiven each other and maybe even reached a new appreciation for each other as you worked through whatever seemingly insurmountable problem made you hate each other for 20 minutes while you sat in your shitty car outside a CVS yelling at each other and crying. Because guess what, Kim? That’s a huge ingredient in a SUCCESSFUL marriage. Sometimes it sucks.  When you relax, however, and remember that you’re a bigger a** than they are, with enough neuroses and calcified bad habits to warrant their own card catalog, you realize that they’re struggling through life’s storm just like you.

KIM KARDASHIAN, I WANT THIS FOR YOU. I don’t hate you. I hate your shows. I hate that I know who you are. But I could move to Patagonia or New Guinea and escape you if I wasn’t as willingly bound up in our terrifying modern consumer culture as you are. I know that under your unnecessary inch of makeup and Kevlar sheath dress is a heart that yearns for true love and could find and appreciate the pleasures in marriage that I described above. That’s why I’d like you to stay married. And if you won’t, I will sue you. Because when you wrap your marriage vows around a cubic zirconia encrusted baseball bat and beat us about the head and face with them, you can stay the f*ck married for more than 20 minutes, you sexy monster. I’ll see you in court.

Boo!

 Halloween is a favorite around here..
no stress.. just fun. 

 These are some ideas from the web…
this look would cost nothing more than paper, scissors, alittle imagination.
Love it!

Martha Stewart probably lives here…

The non-gourmet version of these… divide cupcake mix batter in half, color one half yellow,
the other orange.. fill cups halfway with one, then the other.. frost after cooling with white icing. Easy!

 Such a simple idea, and yet the look is wonderful.
 Do you ignore the holiday altogether,
Or do you participate?
What’s your favorite Halloween tradition?

Run for the Cove

  ” The Cove Center for Grieving Children was founded in 1995
by Jim and Mary Ann Emswiler and therapist Renée McIntyre. 
 Their vision was to create a program in Connecticut 
to support children and families in their grief process
 and to help prevent children and teens from experiencing
the devastating side effects of unresolved childhood grief.” 

   I had the privilege of being asked to take photos at their annual Run For The Cove event this morning at Hammonasset State Park – it was a  windy, chilly, beautiful day at the beach – so many smiles, so many groups showing their support…

I went down to the water afterwards and to my surprise…
there was a man out  there… windsurfing?  Kite surfing?
I would not be surprised if he were frostbitten tonight.
He’d probably tell you the conditions were perfect.
Brrrrrrr.

  

What is it about hair

You get it in places you don’t want it…
You don’t have enough of it in places you DO want it.
You spend alot of money to get rid of the unwanted hair
and you spend alot of money to enhance the desired hair.
What a circle jerk.
I have never really fussed with my hair much… a few haircuts a year..
Sometimes I just cut it myself, because I’m not really a salon girl.
Same basic style for many years with a little change now and then.
I like it longer, but lately I need to be realistic.
I’m no spring chicken,
and the hair is beginning to show it.
So last week I made a last minute call to the local hair salon,
where I could get a cheap cut, same day.
It was…. a cheap cut, same day.
Wasn’t happy.  
Bobble head doll  with a bob comes to mind.  
I tried to live with it.
Yesterday… I drove past  a fancier “SALON”
and then turned around and pulled into their parking lot.
Made an appointment for later in the day
and said… FIX THIS.
It’s short, …and glamorous I am not,
but I think I like it.
Do I look older? Maybe.
Do I care so much? You know… the answer surprises me.
I don’t.

PS.. I love my sister.
When I got out of the salon I sent her this pic…
and she said…
That’ looks like you’re driving!?
Because she cares, you know 🙂
Umm.. I wasn’t. yet.

When Vivika, a local quilt artist who I befriended during my Artisan Gallery days, commented on my DMV Pen post yesterday, I asked her if she had seen the pen machines when she was there.   This is her response, reposted with permission.   I had to laugh, but can you IMAGINE?

_________________________________________________________________________

Yes, the pen machine is there, and it was almost empty on my trip. The full day went like this:

12:15 Arrive and slide through the front door into a sardine can of people (Hamden was closed, so they all went to Old Saybrook). It was impossible to tell where the lines began.


12:30 Found the right line. Whew! Realize there are no forms, start to leave, nice lady gives us one. Score one for humanity.


3:10 Reach the front of the line and talk to DMV… finally. We watched handicapped, old and relatively young people nearly collapse from standing in line with no fresh air on a 90 degree day.


3:12 Get picture taken, sit in one open seat and wait for test. Watch the tattoo parade.


3:15 Doors are locked so no one else can get in. Man with the electronic ankle bracelet unwraps his legs from his girlfriend and takes his drivers test. New reality show is born.


4:15 Grace goes into room to take test. Airconditioning finally starts working.


4:16 People who arrived at 3:15 go in room to take test. I hate them! However, they exit first and stomp out of the DMV with no permit in hand. Score one for karma.


4:48 Grace leaves DMV with newly minted permission from the state of Connecticut to dent our cars and add $2000/year to our insurance policy…


It was a red letter day!

Vivika Hansen DeNegre
http://vdenegrequilts.blogspot.com/
http://theprayerflagproject.blogspot.com/

You can’t make this stuff up

    The significant other went to the motor vehicle department here in Connecticut the other day to fill out registration paperwork.  When it came his turn to fill in some forms, he naturally went for the pen.  You know.. the kind that are attached to a string, stuck to the table?   All three on the forms table where dried up.  So he went to the counter to ask for a pen that writes. 

He said:   None of your pens on the form table are working, can I have a pen to fill out these forms?

She said:  I’m sorry, we don’t lend pens anymore. You’ll have to buy one over there at the pen machine for 50 cents.

He said:   Are ya kiddin?  I have to BUY a pen to fill out your forms?

She said:   That’s the way they’re doing things nowadays around here, sorry.

Other customer said to Him:   You can borrow my pen….. for 20 cents!

So, you Connecticut folks….. next time you have to head over to MV, make sure you bring a working pen.  Or two quarters for the machine.  Apparently.