Cosmo Cosmos

Last night I entered the Cosmo Cosmos for a brief couple of hours. It was heavenly and delicious. Not to mention the health benefits of that splash of cranberry juice in each and every cocktail. But I expect I will not be going back any time soon. Upon waking this morning I was reminded with a certain vengeance that vodka gives me one mean freaking headache. I can't remember the last time I drank vodka, probably over twenty years ago. Damn. I can tell you with Absolut(e) certainty that there are at least a couple of things I would vastly prefer to wake up with than a raging vodka induced headache. While the Advil settles in, I shall be mourning the fact that I shall never return to the Cosmo Cosmos. It was lovely while it lasted.

iWant My iTunes

I dropped off my old mostly dead laptop with the professional geeks once again last week. Because I couldn't locate my iTunes library amongst the information gleaned from my hard drive, now downloaded to an external hard drive for my convenience. I really hope it's there. Because I have about five billion cd's uploaded into it. And I simply do not have the patience to accomplish that particular task again. At least not tonight I don't. So let's hope that bright and early tomorrow morning when I plug in that cute little gadget that I find my iTunes rather than merely the desktop icon that was a link to it. But if I must reconstruct the darn thing, I suppose that's what I could be doing with the hour I'm not on Facebook every day. You'd think I would learn that if gleeful feelings in January over being under budget led to expensive computer fixes that maybe being smug over gaining some time every day while absent from Facebook might just lead to repeating a time sucking task screaming at me to be accomplished. Well! Screw losing this last seven pounds so I'll look fabulous in my Liz Claiborne Petites sundress I want to wear for that wedding the first week in May! I'll be eating cookies. Thank you.

Spider Insider

It is with no small amount of trepidation that I return to this room and sit at this desk. Last night I vacated so swiftly I didn't shut down my computer. Out of the corner of my eye I spied the biggest freaking spider I've seen in this basement. Ever. It appeared out of nowhere and was creeping about on a stack of notebooks just to the left of where my computer sits. Then it disappeared. So I left and came back armed with the vacuum cleaner and a small plastic cup. If the little eight-legged bastard is too close to other small objects that I consider too valuable to be vacuumed into oblivion, which is my preferred method of dispatching marauding arachnids, my second choice is to pop a plastic cup over him creating a tiny spider jail cell. The spider has not returned. But he could be lurking anywhere. I stand, or actually sit, ready! If you ask me, this is a job for Newton and Einstein. But they're napping upstairs. I hate spiders. Maybe I just need to find that old lady who swallowed the fly and ask her if she's ready for the second course.
    

The Great Lamp Shuffle

It all started when I found this navy blue lamp shade on clearance at World Market on Saturday. I thought it would work on a specific lamp at home, but it didn't. Turns out it works beautifully on this lamp, which used to be downstairs topped with a fancy red shade. Of course, this bumped the lamp that used to be on this table to another spot. 

This is the fancy red shade that used to be on the lamp that is now wearing the new navy blue shade. This lamp used to have an ivory fringy shade and was in the corner of the living room. So much better in my bedroom! As you'll soon see, the lamp that was formerly in this spot has moved downstairs.

This is the lamp that was bumped from the sofa table by the navy shaded lamp and is now in the corner of the living room where the lamp now in my bedroom used to be. Isn't this fun?

Now we're downstairs. The lamp in the top photo used to be here, wearing the fancy red shade. Now this lamp, which got bumped from the table at the bottom of the stairs, is in the same room as its matching one! 

See? Isn't this special? Really, there are two of them. I didn't just photograph the same lamp in two different spots to mess with you. Really!

This little black iron lamp used to be in my bedroom, but I think it looks a lot better here with this metallic framed mirror just above it. Also here we find the fancy fringy shade that used to be on the lamp currently in my bedroom now with the red shade that used to be on the table in the corner of the living room. It's an orphan lamp shade now. Don't be sad. This fancy fringy shade is much too, well, fancy and fringy to stay out of commission for long. I'm so glad I got this out of my system. This way I won't even consider rearranging the furniture any time soon.

Joy of Laryngitis

There is either a very tiny ho(a)rse or a plethora of frogs that has taken up residence near my voice box. Rendering it nearly impossible for moi to utter much of anything that can be understood. I have resorted to orange spice herb tea with honey and the restorative powers of chicken soup. Please text rather than call for the next couple of days. Thank you.

Day 9

Welcome to the ninth day of my self-imposed Facebook hiatus. I miss it a little, but it's not horrible. Not like the dreaded caffeine withdrawal headache that darkens your door when you give up coffee. I feel a bit of a kinship with those more pious than me as this is the Lenten season. Where people give up things they love as an act of sacrifice hoping they'll learn something from the conscious denial of pleasure. I had a friend who regularly gave up sourkraut for Lent. But she didn't love sourkraut. So she didn't suffer. Kind of missing the whole point but she was dead serious about it. Maybe Methodist Lent is different that way. I must say I don't love Facebook so this isn't an enormous sacrifice on my part, either. I think I have regained something over an hour each day but I can't say I use it wisely or in any constructive manner. I do enjoy how easy it is to stay in contact with many people, and the pages I have liked provide links to news stories that interest me. I expect I'll stay away for another week but probably not in excess of a month. My hope is that it will be fun again after some time away. Funny how one incident of a friend meddling where they ought not can alter your outlook. But I have always felt that relationships of any kind are like that. You can go on for years and years sometimes and things remain pleasant. And then there's that one day when something happens that makes you question your ties to another person. Maybe it's a dealbreaker, maybe it's just the first straw that eventually devolves into the last. Nothing lasts forever. So I think it's imperative that we spend the time we do have with those whose company is a positive, enriching and joyous experience. And that applies to Facebook as well as the real world.

Mmmmmm! B Haskett

Mimosas. Yes. With crepes. I love brunch. And while seconds on the mimosa is just a little bit excessive, one and one third each is just perfect. That's AndiBean demonstrating her expert pouring skills. 

Me in the middle of the AndiGirls, with a baguette. Let's go shopping, now, shall we? Saturday always flies by much too quickly.