Month: August 2005 (Page 1 of 4)

When you say the word out loud, it sounds funny. I think we’ve heard too many words via advertising that are related to prescription needs, and as my pal Beth pointed out, it sounds like a side-effect of something: Excessive usage can result in florilegium.

Ah, but while it is not an affliction, it could become an addiction! Florilegium is an absolutely gorgeous shop in Parkville, MO, that sells yarn, ribbons, needleworking supplies and various & sundry other needleart resources. I did some digging on the definition, and found this – and it seems consistent with the focus of the shop: to provide an exquisite collection.

Presentation is fantastic. If I hadn’t been sweating buckets, or worried they thought I was a marauding corporate spy, I would have taken more pictures. In fact, the owners were so gracious, they offered to go buy us drinks or snacks! And I was directed to a large roll of paper towels when we walked in, which was also greatly appreciated. (We went on “Parkville Days” and the roads were blocked off – so we had to hoof it.) But look at this: A wall of yarn. IN JARS! With tassels so you could feel a sample of what was inside.

And an antique wrought-iron fence/grate bursting with Cascade 220:

Miss Kristin, perusing a book. Note the stained glass windows. In the windows on the back wall, the letters spell “Y A R N”.

I loved it. They’re worth the drive!

You find yourself secretly wishing the lemon tea you’re sipping was Theraflu Nighttime Lemon Cold Relief drink.

Kristin and I were chatting the other day (well, like, we chat EVERY day during the work week, and even sometimes extra on the weekends), about the young men, well, ok, they’re basically boys, on the Rockhurst Cross-Country team, and how we see them as we’re driving in to work and they are running along in little packs, all lean and young and did I mention they’re young? They make me feel old, but they also make me feel a little lusty-old-lady-ish, and I’m not sure why, since I like my men BEEFY. Perhaps it’s just all that youth in motion.

So on Saturday, I snapped a pic of a similar group running in a race. Nothing says creepy like a middle-aged woman DRIVING and pointing her camera out her passenger window at young men.

In my defense, I took a bunch of random pictures on my drive:

This one makes me kinda carsick, but I still like it:

What a fun weekend it’s been. A bit of a blur, actually, but I’m really jazzed about the fact I washed all our bedding today. All. Of. It. Actually, I had to stop washing the pillows, because the cheap ones were EXPLODING in the washing machine. It was like a horror movie, with pillows committing hari-kari and exploding their stuffins all over the place. And then one load of pillows had PMS & they retained a ton of water, so they’re drip-drying until they’re less waterlogged & bitchy. After two pillow deaths & two pillows in Time Out, I quit with washing the pillows. Damned dust mites. I had hopes of killing them ALL!!!!

I met my first real, live blogger (as in, a blogger I knew solely through blogs) yesterday – Carrie of Wild Scorpy was kind enough to drive in to North KC to meet me for lunch. Where else would we dine, but a thai restaurant? “Tasty Thai”, and she gets extra points for being so adventurous. I had not dined at the TT before, and it was a bit of a mixed bag, not knowing their food as :cough: well as I know Thai Place’s, Thai Orchid’s, Thai House’s, and Thai 2000’s….. (sidenote, Kristin & I saw another Thai restaurant downtown, it’s right next door to Bazookas. (titty bar) Swell!I probably won’t be going there anytime soon.) Anyhoo, the food wasn’t as fantabulous as I’d hoped (spring rolls were made with really thick rice paper sheets, red curry wasn’t, well, red), and eventually, I’ll have to do a complete Kansas City Guide to Thai Food (Not Located Next To Titty Bars) – which will require further dining at Tasty Thai so as to provide a thorough analysis and report. All of that aside, meeting her was great fun & it was surprising to realize that three hours had flashed by & our legs were getting stiff from sitting so long! I will give Tasty Thai props for having a hilarious, festive delivery vehicle:

Oh, yes, I had to use the zoom:

So thanks for driving down, Ms. Scorpy, it was a lot of fun & we’ll have to do it again – but I swear, if we go back to Tasty Thai, I am buying this bigass pikachu – it’s a bank! It stared at me through lunch and I know it would have started talking to me, eventually.

My knitbud Abbey tagged me with a little query, to share: Five Idiosyncrasies.

Gee, just five? I would guess my list is…. endless. And, much like Abbey, I find my little quirks captivating, endearing & charming. As you should, too. Also, like Abbey, I can’t do the face-to-face sleeping thing. I fear oxygen deprivation.

Anyway, I gave it some thought, and here they are, selectively presented.

1. I cannot see the band name “Hoobastank” without saying it out loud. Every. Single. Time.

2. I am very particular about the tines of my fork. If I am dining out & the tines are uneven, I will do everything to get a new fork. It really affects how much I can enjoy the meal.

3. I color-separate all my candy before I eat it. M&M’s, Skittles, Gummi Bears…

4. I apply lipstick all the time. Even if I know I’ll be wiping it off in five minutes. I LOVE LIPSTICK.

5. I always stop before I get to the bottom step, of anywhere. I stop & look & then continue down. (I fell down a flight of concrete steps & took all the skin off my shins when I was moving. I didn’t break a single dish but it hurt like bloody hell. It was 15 years ago, but I’m paranoid.)

I see you wanting to share your quirky-quirks! Bekah? Shannon? Carrie? Kristin? Show us what you got!

If it is nighttime-dark in the morning, due to thunderstorms? Everybody will stay home, preferably in bed.

See what happens when you elect a ruler who can sleep through just about anything?

GOOD THINGS HAPPEN.

People who design & promote knitting/crochet patterns like this? They will be immediately packed off to Taste Camp, where severe re-programming will take place.

(Oh, and you KNOW who’s in charge of Taste Camp.)

That’s the line that has rolled around my head for a couple months, ever since I went to the dentist for my regular checkup, and inquired about teeth whitening. I had thought it cost around $200. And I was seriously considering it, because while I have many things I don’t invest a lot of angst or energy in, I do like my teeth. I’ve got “lucky teeth”, or at least that’s what I’ve been told my whole life: when people have asked if I ever wore braces, and I said “No”, they always said, “Wow, you’re lucky.” I believe ’em – my teeth are pretty straight, and I take fairly good care of them.

So back to the tooth-whitening adventure. To have the professional trays made, and your first set of whitening solution? FOUR HUNDRED AND TWELVE DOLLARS. I must shout that amount. Because there were times over the past 2 months, even as long as five minutes, I decided I was going to do it, despite the cost. And then I’d hear that voice in my head saying, “What price vanity, Jennifer?” So I did some internet research. And some eBay perusing. I decided to risk it on eBay, having read the different auctions thoroughly and intently, as though I was signing away my life’s savings. The grand total damage? $89. Not cheap, but that’s about what the “professional” grade Crest white strips will run you at the dentist. For my $89, I received a month’s worth of 22% whitening solution, and dental forms & putty you activated by kneading the two balls together. A mailer to send the forms back, and complete instructions.

Here is where you get the glimpse into the obsessive-side of my brain. I read the directions three times, at least. For once you knead the putty together (for 40 seconds, timed maniacally with a watch), you are now in a window that is slamming shut. You must roll the putty into a small snake, place it in the dental tray, position said tray in your mouth, and imprint your teeth CORRECTLY. Getting the gumline, but not biting THROUGH the putty. This is apparently what costs the $350 at the dentist’s office, that expertise, and unlimited putty if they fuck up. Which I did, on my first try, and so I read the directions again, 2x. Because I only had one extra set of fuck-up putty. My next two attempts came out “OK”, but not being a trained putty-form-dental-tray maker, I was still concerned. But then I noticed in the directions “take pictures of the forms if you are at all concerned about if they’ll work.” Hello, you haven’t met me, have you? I like to cover my bases. (Because it costs a bunch more if you arrogantly send in your f-d up forms and they’re not right. Like another $20 or so, to get replacement putty & a mailer and all.) So I take pictures. Big ones. Detailed. I send the eBay seller four of these, so big he can use them as wallpaper on his computer, if he so chooses. He emails me back, these look fine, send them back.

So yesterday, I got my little plastic dental trays & I had my first hour of whitening while we watched a movie. I think I’ve got the real-deal, the solution isn’t expired, it’s the same stuff sold at the dentist & you can’t buy it direct. My plastic trays fit my teeth like painted-on latex, and I paid a 1/4 of what I’d have spent at the dentist. And I guess the answer to my question? I like my vanity anywhere from 50%-90% off retail.

My next job: at-home-dental-tray-putty-form-teeth-impression maker:

Is that you gotta read a book. (I know! WTF?!) I tried this past month, and just could not get into it. (American Woman, by Susan Choi. Good luck.) So I emailed two of my book club members about my predicament and they both encouraged me to attend book club, for the social aspect ‘n’ all. I did, it was quite enjoyable, I mean good god, Phyllis brought triple cream brie with rosemary crackers & there was a profuse quantity of lemon bars. Best of all – GET THIS – the majority of the attendees did NOT read the book! And here I was feeling all high-school-dropout about it. I’m psyched about the next book, “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt. I wish I could knit & read at the same time, but I just can’t. CAN’T equals WON’T don’t you know? I love the remnants of self-help books that never quite leave you.

And now I’ve violated the first rule of Book Club. You know what the first rule of Book Club is, right? I can’t say any more. Edward Norton is lurking.

My cell phone usually rings around 3:30, 3:40 in the afternoon, and it’s JWo, leaving work. So when it rings at other times, during the workday, I’m a little alarmed. It just rang (12:30) and I’m sitting here at my desk putting out some small brush fires (it is best to use a side-to-side sweeping motion across the fire), and I got a little alarmed. Like, what else is going to happen today? Around noon, my work phone rang, I’d pick it up, and there was nobody there. By the third time, I was giving my phone the Hairy Eyeball. FIVE TIMES this happened, until on that fifth time, Representative Dennis Moore’s recorded voice started talking about some f’n banjo get-together speakeasy he’s gonna have over in Fairway and since I work and live IN MISSOURI DENNIS, and therefore can’t VOTE FOR YOU, I hung up. With much spluttering and swearing.

So back to my ringing cell phone & my nerves all jingle-jangle. I answer.
“Hello?”
A ginormous pause on the other end. OK, not helping the anxiety I freely shovel around every day. I’m worried about one of my friends right now and I am running from Dennis Moore.

“This isn’t George’s D&D Electric, is it.” a woman on the other end stated.
“Ah, No. This is Jennifer’s Brushfire Service. So sorry. Can I interest you in Dennis Moore’s hoedown in Fairway?”