Sunglasses

I have a thing for sunglasses.  I haven't counted lately but I'd guess I have 40 pairs.

Not expensive, designer sunglasses.  Quite the opposite actually. Most of my sunglasses were under $10.  The most expensive pair was $20.  

I buy them anywhere and everywhere.  From a beach vendor in Puerto Vallarta, at the Walmart in Palm Springs, from online vendors, and occasionally even from the Dollar Tree.

I don't need my sunglasses to be "high quality" or to last forever, because I have so many and am always looking for new ones, its OK with me if they aren't heirloom quality.  

Here's a pair I bought online.  I'd seen someone wearing a pair in Puerto Vallarta but was unable to find them there, most likely because they were purchased elsewhere, so I ordered them from Amazon.  I think the blue/green all-over mirror finish coordinates nicely with my shirt.  Note: there is no frame/lens distinction.  

Sunglasses

I have a thing for sunglasses.  I haven't counted lately but I'd guess I have 40 pairs.

Not expensive, designer sunglasses.  Quite the opposite actually. Most of my sunglasses were under $10.  The most expensive pair was $20.  

I buy them anywhere and everywhere.  From a beach vendor in Puerto Vallarta, at the Walmart in Palm Springs, from online vendors, and occasionally even from the Dollar Tree.

I don't need my sunglasses to be "high quality" or to last forever, because I have so many and am always looking for new ones, its OK with me if they aren't heirloom quality.  

Here's a pair with mirrored lenses that sometimes look amber and sometimes look orange.  My orange shirt coordinates well with them I think.

 

Off season

We recently bought some new outdoor furniture, and it snowed.

Typically you wouldn't think of buying outdoor furniture in the winter or when there's even a possibility of snow, but that's what we're forced to do now by retailers.  If you wait until the weather starts to turn warm and you can actually use your new outdoor furniture, there will only be scraps and pieces left over.  To get what you want you have to shop 'off season'.

So we went ahead and got the new outdoor furniture for our screened porch (which is currently being stored in our dining room) and within a couple days it snowed.

This irks me.  I hate that retailers of many seasonal goods force you to shop 'off season'.  Go into a department store in January and you're hard-pressed to find winter clothes.  Instead you'll find swim suits and cruise wear.

One time I went into a Dollar Tree store in Aug and saw stuff for Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  In August!!

FYI - the reason our new outdoor furniture is being stored in our dining room is because we are replacing some of our old outdoor furniture.  There isn't room on the screened porch for the new stuff until we get rid of the old stuff, which I'm going to sell, but I don't want to try and sell the old stuff while the weather is still cold enough to snow.

So, for at least a few more weeks our dining room will be packed with our dining room furniture and our outdoor furniture as well as a bunch of new pillows.

Bread

The other day I was in the Dollar Tree store to pick up some chip clips.  

As I made my way to the register I saw a woman pushing a shopping cart full of loaves of bread.  As she unloaded the contents of the cart onto the conveyor belt, it appeared she had 35-40 loaves of bread!

I tried to imagine why she would need/buy so many loaves of bread at one time.  Was she making sandwiches for an entire Little League team?  Was she making French Toast for a breakfast fundraiser?  I kept coming up with more and more options.

Apparently this abundance of bread was too much for the cashier to fathom.  She just had to know what was going on, so she asked the customer "Are you going to freeze most of this?"  

The shopper smiled and said "No, this will all be eaten in a couple of days."  The cashier replied "Really?  You must have a houseful!", to which the customer replied "No, its for a hotel."

What makes a home?

Flamingos!

Our dear friends Steven & Thad went to settlement yesterday on their new house. While they were at the attorney's office signing their names a thousand and one times, I was at their new house peppering their yard with plastic pink flamingos.

A facebook conversation gave me the idea for it, and a colleague reported she had seen pink flamingos at the Dollar Store. Yes, the Dollar Store!! So I immediately bought 10 plastic pink flamingos for the joyous occasion.

When they returned from settlement, keys in hand, they were greeted by the festive display of pink flamingos in their yard.Wish I'd thought of taking a photo. Photo above is from the internet.

Later that evening, Spouse & I put together a quick 'house viewing' party at their new place. Several of their friends were available on virtually no notice, which was great. Joe P, 1 of the Bobs, Liz, Diane, Rick & Candy, Chris, and Spouse & I had a tour of their new home (which Spouse crowned 'McStevenson Manor', an inside joke) and then gathered in Steven & Thad's kitchen to eat pizza, boneless 'flamingo' wings, and bright pink cake. Thanks to Joe P for these iPhone photos.

As the party was wrapping up there was a knock on the door. Two neighbor ladies came in with a bottle of champagne to welcome their new neighbors to the neighborhood. Donna and Darlene are likely in their late 40s/early 50s and have been friends since junior high school. We chatted with them and learned some of the stories of the other neighbors as well as Steven & Thad's home's previous owner. Donna and Darlene were absolutely delightful!

It was a lot of fun and we couldn't be happier for our dear friends!

Slow down

The other day I mentioned how irritating it was to look for patio furniture on July 17 only to find the stores had sold out of it already. Summer is only 1/2 over and you can't buy any outdoor furniture??? Something is wrong with this.

Last week when Spouse's family was here, they stopped in at his mom's favorite store K-Mart. Spouse said all the men's bathing suits were 1/2 off. On July 14th!! Heaven help you if you need a new bathing suit in August.

I remember ducking into a store just after my birthday (2 weeks before Christmas) and delightedly found all the Christmas stuff was already 1/2 off. Two weeks BEFORE Christmas. Its not so bad when retailers mark down seasonal merchandise before a holiday, as long as they still have the seasonal merchandise DURING the holiday. Wouldn't you be mad if you needed Christmas gift wrap on Dec 17 and they didn't have any?

Last Sun (July 18) I was in Dollar Tree and saw that they already had Halloween and Thanksgiving merchandise in the store. Come on!! Halloween is 3 1/2 months away and Thanksgiving is 4 1/2 months away!

That took me back to the early 80s when I worked in a shopping mall. I distinctly remember walking into JC Penney on the day after New Years and seeing the mannequins dressed in swimwear. On January 2nd!!

Maybe this makes me sound old, but I find this absolutely ridiculous.

What is the purpose in stores 'rushing' the seasons? Don't they think it frustrates and irritates shoppers when they can't find in-season merchandise 1/2 way through the season?

How many bikinis do they sell in January? I wonder how many MORE bikinis they'd sell if they still sold them in August?

How many snow shovels do they sell in August? I wonder how many MORE snow shovels they'd sell if they still sold them in January?

Who's with me on this???

Crush du Jour: John Schneider

Weekend highlights

After 2 weekends in a row of having weekend company, Spouse & I both enjoyed returning to our beloved Sat morning rituals: he with his personal trainer appointment (and gossip fest) with Rick, and me with my coffee and back-to-back episodes of "Sell This House", which were all new to me this week. Afterward we had a low point (Weight Watchers) lunch at home, then decided to see what kind of sales we might be able to find on patio furniture. Although I'm happy with what we have, Spouse thought it might be nice to see if we could score a good deal on something new for our newly expanded screened porch. Must to my amazement, Home Depot and Lowes had nothing but some resin Adirondack-style chairs left. No table and chairs sets; no loveseat and chair sets; nothing. When I asked an employee about it he simply said "You have to shop early in the season." Hello? Its July 17. We're only 1/2 way through summer. People are still interested in patio furniture! I find this ridiculous and will write more about it later. Then Spouse & I went grocery shopping and I showered in preparation for our plans for dinner with Doug & Jim. Unfortunately, Jim's spa day got delayed so they wound up having to cancel. Spouse & I had dinner out anyway, then watched TV.

Thad called Sun morning at 8:30 (yawn), saying he & Steven were on their way to meet his sister Robin for breakfast, and invited us to join them before going to the beach. So we quickly got ourselves together and tossed our beach stuff in the car and met them for breakfast. I had 2 small pancakes and a wonderful fresh fruit plate - not too heavy. Then we went to the beach, and were joined by The Bobs, Joe P and his weekend guests, and our friend PW. It was very hot but there was a nice breeze most of the time. The water was finally warm enough for us to get in, so all of us were finally able to swim in the ocean. It was great!

Steve told us that a local dancebar is going to have a Lady GaGa night next Sat. I think it was me who suggested we all wear wild Lady GaGa-style sunglasses to the event. So after enjoying a lovely day at the beach and having lunch and a shower, I headed to the Dollar Tree to look for stuff to make our GaGa glasses. After 2 hours I found appropriate $1. sunglasses, accessories and accountrement for 4 different looks, but will likely need to shop some other sources for the final 2. Even here at the beach its NOT easy to find small plastic lobsters! Once the GaGa glasses are done I will post photos for you. I returned home to find Spouse had grilled some bison burgers and bison hot dogs (very low fat and high protein) for dinner. We ate and then watched 2 back-to-back episodes of Spouse's latest guilty pleasure: "Ice Road Truckers" and then went to bed.

Crush du Jour: Daniel Ewing

(Long) Weekend highlights

The construction guys worked hard to get the porch screened before they quit working on Fri. Bugs & Roger arrived on Fri at 12:30, but unfortunately I had a conference call at 1:00 so I couldn't go out to lunch with them. They had lunch and shopped at the tax-free outlet malls. When Spouse got home they returned from shopping and we chatted until it was time to leave for Fri Night Dinner with 'the usual suspects'. After dinner, we sat on the newly enlarged screened porch and talked until bedtime.

Sat morning Spouse went to his personal trainer appointment while Bugs & Rog and I chatted over breakfast, then walked to the farmer's market. It was pretty hot but the humidity was low so it was nice in the shade. They got tomatoes, cucumbers and baked goods; I got a gorgeous bunch of cut flowers. Bugs & Rog helped me sweep the screened porch and bring in the tables, chairs, and lounge furniture. When Spouse returned and showered, the 4 of us had lunch and then walked to the art show. Two friends were exhibiting, and we enjoyed looking at everything. Then Spouse & Roger went to the grocery store while Bugs & I went to the Dollar Store and liquor store. 'Divide and conquer' was out motto. Later Steven & Thad and Joe P came over for dinner and we had our 1st meal on the new, enlarged screened porch. We had peppercorn pork tenderloins, orzo with oven roasted veggies, romaine salad, and fresh tomato and cucumber slices. For dessert we had a fruit salad of watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries and blueberries. Although it was very hot earlier, it was a gorgeous night for being outside.

Sun morning it was very hot again so we had breakfast and just hung out indoors. Spouse & I dropped Big Ella off for a wash 'n wax and when we got back we all had lunch. Then we walked to the canal to watch the decorated boat parade. We brought Big Ella home and we went to a neighbor's cocktail party, but couldn't stay long because we had to get ready for the Doo Dah parade. (For an explanation and photos of the Doo Dah parade, click here.) Spouse doesn't like to be the center of attention so he watched the parade with Rick & Nick from their usual post at our friends Mike & Steve's front porch, right on the parade route. Bugs & Roger had never experienced the Doo Dah parade but were game to give it a try. I'd purchased bags of penny candy for them to toss at the kids along the route and we all had a great time. Big Ella was duly adored by everyone and received many cheers and rounds of applause. Unfortunately we have no photos since our camera was acting up again. After the parade, Spouse and Rick & Nick met me and Bugs & Roger back at the house for a 4th of July cook-out on the screened porch. We had hamburgers, bison burgers, bison dogs, cheddar brats, potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans, and sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. Just before it got dark we grabbed our beach chairs and walked to the beach to watch the fireworks. Our city doesn't need to have a budget for 4th of July fireworks, as a dozen or so citizens have taken it upon themselves to furnish them. For about 90 minutes the public is treated to a free fireworks display that spans a couple miles up and down the beach. It was a beautiful night!

This morning Bugs & Roger left just after breakfast and we joined Steven & Thad, Joe P, The Bobs, and Alisha & Jack at the beach. Again it was very hot out but low humidity, and there was a cool breeze coming off the ocean so it was very pleasant. We laughed and talked and I couldn't believe how quickly the time passed. Upon returning home, Spouse & I had a late lunch consisting of last night's cook-out left overs. He's napping now.

It was a terrific holiday weekend, and I feel very fortunate.

Crush du Jour: Noah Mills

Fun and productive weekend highlights

Sometimes we spend our weekends having fun. Sometimes we spend our weekends doing productive things. But my favorite weekends are when we have fun AND do productive things. That was the kind of weekend we just had, and it was great!

I had a relaxing Sat morning drinking coffee and flipping back and forth between "Sell This House" and "My Big Amazing Renovation" (shows Spouse would rather not watch) while he was at his personal trainer appointment. After I showered, fed and walked the dog, and ran the dishwasher, Spouse came home and we went to lunch before doing a little shopping. We bought an old, dark-stained oak chest of drawers from an antiques and collectibles shop for our bathroom.
This will give us easier access to all of Spouse's health and beauty products. Although I'm usually not a big fan of oak furniture, this piece is stained dark and really coordinates nicely with the wainscoting and vanity.

I changed the sheets on our bed and then put on the new king size duvet and bedskirt we bought last summer, right after the addition started. Its amethyst in color, with a bronze border, and looks really nice with the area rug in our room. Since I still loved the queen size comforter set we used to have on our old bed, we decided to swap out a lesser quality comforter set upstairs with the one from our bedroom, which included taking the mattresses off the beds to change out the bedskirts. Definitely a 2-person job. Next I put up some temporary (paper) shades in the bathroom and closet windows so Spouse would finally start using those areas. Despite the fact that no one is looking in our windows, and even if they were they wouldn't be able to see us from the street on the 2nd floor, he feels every window should have a covering. I am temporarily obliging him while the stain glasses panels are being made.

Next we went to the storage unit and finally brought Big Ella home to live in her new garage. We'd been planning to do this for 2 weekends, but were unable due to my being sick one weekend and the film festival and rain the following weekend. She fits beautifully in her safe and dry home, with plenty of extra room for storage.

Our friend and neighbor Jared went with us to a glass blowing exhibit at Deb Appleby's studio. Then we had cocktails and a great dinner at Rigby's. I had pumpkin risotto with wild mushrooms, Spouse had beef stroganoff, and Jared had pasta bolognese. It was a really enjoyable night.

Sun morning Spouse & I had breakfast, then did a little more shopping at Wal-Mart and our fabulous Dollar Store. On the way home we stopped at the stained glass studio to get an update on our window inserts. They'd ordered a specific glass color they needed and had been told it was on back-order. Then when the supplier was ready to ship it there was some problem with having it delivered. The long and the short of it is that it will be at least another month before the window inserts are ready.

Once home, Spouse & I sorted through all of his health and beauty products, which had been temporarily stored in laundry baskets when the addition project began. Some stuff went into the trash, while the keepers were placed in clear, rectangular, plastic containers (from the Dollar Store) and then into the drawers of the new chest. We propped a vintage etched glass mirror on top to see if we like it before mounting it over the chest. Then I placed clean towels and new rugs (from Wal-Mart) in the guest bath, in preparation for our Thanksgiving houseguests. I washed some dishes and wiped off the counters before going to Five Guys for burgers and fries. Spouse was in the mood for cheeseburgers and I was in the mood not to cook them or clean up afterward.

And while all of this was going on, our yard guy Ray powerwashed the exterior of the house, our bikes, and all the porch furniture from both porches. What a difference! Its unbelievable how dirty the exterior of the house got from the neighbor's construction last year, the street reconstruction earlier this year, and our addition. But it looks clean and beautiful now.

So that was our fun and productive weekend. What did YOU do?

Crush du Jour: Pascal Elbe