Merry Christmas!

We have a beautiful cold blue-sky day here in St. Louis. Perfect for a....walk!? Maggie sure hopes so. Dig the crazy plastic bag rug my mother crocheted. 193 bags!

Why I Love Christmas

1. I like making fabric-based Christmas cards (although that didn't happen this year).

2. Shiny! And sparkly!

3. I have 2 weeks off to get addicted to 90210 reruns and to be mesmerized by Tori Spelling's stiff boob valley (cleavage) and fake tan.

4. My Christmas cactii are blooming. In fact, Lowe's has them on sale for a quarter, but I'll warn you I bought the last 2 healthy ones.

5. People give you things.

6. Eggnog, with or without rum.

7. "My Favorite Things" by John Coltrane.

8. The feeling of giving gifts to my usually overlooked coworkers, like our day custodian and the secretaries. I omitted the evening custodians because they leave the girls' bathroom window open ALL FUCKING NIGHT and then it's like 3 degrees in there in the morning. Shut the damn window already!

9. The first batch of sugar cookies makes me happy. Not the fourth.

10. Christmas fabrics!

11. Remembering the feeling of still believing in Santa Claus.

12. Did I already say SHINY and SPARKLY?

Why I Hate Christmas

1. It's hard to get excited about Christmas when one of your parents is either not speaking to the entire family (except the cats) or is off hunting on Christmas morning.

2. Too much sugar cookie rolling gives one a sore back.

3. Boom! It's over. Even Lowe's has all their Christmas decor on clearance.

4. I have too many choices of who to donate stuff to. Should I knit a million pairs of mittens for needy families in shelters? Should I donate them to the families my school sponsors? What about my own students who are in crappy families?
For example, I noticed *Juan*'s deformed thumbnail today.
"What the heck happened to your thumb?" I asked.
"I don't want to talk about it," replied the normally annoyingly conversative kid. He's always all up in everyone's Kool-Aid and doesn't even know what flavor it is! Seriously, if you are talking to someone else and turn around fast, *Juan* is there. He never wants to go home, and is always hanging out after school with us. He's a sidler!
I know it's his dad's fault that his thumb tip is all deformed, but I really don't want to ask. Cause, if the Mayor of Brittany Woods ain't talkin', it must be pretty bad.
Things like this break my heart.

So, 4. is that I am too ADD to pick one charity to do nice things for. Plus, the procrastinating gene in me is STRONG.

5. You go to church on Christmas Eve and everything is so pretty and sparkling with the candlelight service and a church full of warm bodies singing your favorite songs. It's full of a beautiful warm feeling and you think that maybe Jon King is looking at you like he might like you and he says "Merry Christmas" to you all close and romantic (for church).
Then, you go home to a house of tension and misery where we all walk on eggshells and only come out of our rooms for meals.

6. I hate packing up the ornaments. Conversely, I dislike unpacking a suitcase and the dishwasher.

7. I know there's lots of people out there worse off than me, and then I feel like an asshole for blogging about it.

8. 8, 8, I forget what 8 was for.

9. I am totally serious about #1. Dad wouldn't talk to us usually from Thanksgiving until my birthday (January 28th. I like green, chocolate, and organized living). He would even get his OWN beer!

10. Brown Christmas. Or, like tonight, Black Sheet of Icy Death Christmas. Seriously, go salt your steps, folks.

11. I get hooked on 90210 reruns and follow the story line for 2 weeks then have to go back to work.

Perfect

This made me laugh until it hurt.

The entire website really appeals to my sarcastic, feisty and citified ways.

Snow Day!

Woo hoo for snow days! Although, I guess it is technically an "ice day". The rain and sleet started shortly after 9 pm, and I got to lay in bed listening to it beat against the plastic sheeting we put over the screens in the stained glass windows above our bed. Sounds hoosierish, but there weren't any storm windows for these specific windows. God bless 1939-era windows :(

Here is what I just saw in the yard, hopefully catching pigeons:

Yes indeed, that is a big-ass hawk (not the official name) sitting on the telephone wires. That's the view from my kitchen window. What you can't see is the sad brown garden or the hiding chickadees, juncos and house finches or our garage. But a hawk is pretty cool, too!

And while I'm messing with pictures, this is the sunset from Friday night.
Even with the wire in the way, it's beautiful.

Back on the Estate Sales Again

For a while, Tiny Montgomery and I were rummage and estate sale hounds. I quickly learned that garage sales are usually not worth the time, unless they advertise "fabric" or sewing stuff.

We went to a sale this morning which turned out to be great. I had been talking about needing a roasting pan for a few weeks, and lo/behold, in the basement, along with 1298 trophies and a vintage box of Christmas mica snow (which freaked me out), there it was!


Check out those cute tea towels! I really love the one of the little....bear? with the name "Evelyn" and "1985".
Please also note the pink fruit and the massive Tupperware container with lid and pouring spout.

We also spent some time in the closet, surrounded by bad polyester, which Miss Lemon would like, and incredible couture brocaded gowns. And embroidered sweatshirts. If anyone needs a turquoise suit, heels and clutch purse, it's there!

Now to wash the rest of the creepy stick-in-your-eyes mica snow.

Yowza!

First of all, a massive thank you to everyone who picked up a little Squaresville for the holidays. I am SO happy that you're helping me clean out my craft storage box!
Rock and Roll Craft Show was totally kick-ass, and then yesterday's Green Living Expo was also awesome! Thanks to you customers, I will be sending a fat check to my grandparents for Christmas. Grandpop is 96 or so, and Grandmom will be 89 in January. I know they struggle to make ends meet, as he is a retired farmer and she is a seamstress. They're on a ton of medications, heating bill, blah blah blah. Would you be happy to know that Grandpop recycles? And, he was excited to "put a woman in the White House" in the April primaries in Pennsylvania.
Anyway, Grandmom has been in her house since 1939, and it needs tons of repairs. Naturally, I sorta hope she leaves it to me in her will, because I have nothing but wonderful memories of baking, cooking, canning, cleaning and fabric-messing-around-with in her house.
I figure the money will come in handy for them.

Here is a picture so you can see my newest frock, straight from the bowels of Value Village:

I like it, even though the picture makes me look oddly-shaped. And why do I always have that "I'm going to kick your ass" look?

Modish Marketplace!

Buy, buy, BUY!!!

At least from my shop or others listed on the December Modish Marketplace blog, that is....

Rock and Roll Craft Show was a big hit, and I don't have too much stock left, so please help a sistah clean out her craft storage box!
In fact, if you purchase a goodie from my Etsy store, mention you read about it here, and I'll throw on a wee lil' discount...how about 15% off? Just make sure to send a "Message to Seller" before paying. You can do the math or I can send you an update invoice.

In other news, it snowed today! I let the dog out at 5:45 and saw a beautiful dim snowy morn. It was all blowy and big flakes and quiet and peaceful. Thank god I bought an ice scraper last week!