Snow Joke

When life gives you bad weather, stay home and bottle some sunshine.

Do you think a city should grind to a halt over three inches of snow? Neither do I. Yesterday, the police had so many stranded cars on the uphill section of Dodge street next to where I live that they finally shut the street down so cars could be pushed-towed, and ploughs brought in to clear the snow. The mayor (who is facing a boatload of criticism over the ploughing, or lack thereof) is doing her best to blame everyone else (again. This is the THIRD time this season the city was unprepared ) and the Chicagoan in me is watching this unfold and thinking, "I know how this is going to end because I've seen it play out before." Mayor Stothert, meet Mike Bilandic . Don't underestimate snow as a reason to be voted out of office. Anyway, the roads didn't look much better today, so we stayed in and made some "Toast Perfume."

Lime jelly with star anise, and Lemon, lime, rosewater, lavender, and vanilla (which smells suspiciously like Shalimar). I think we have potential State Fair material here, but we'll want to experiment a bit. These were both small batches for the research and development stage. I have some Earl Grey/jasmine tea/vanilla/rose steeping for tomorrow. We take our State Fair entries seriously around here.

Bottling is hard work, so for lunch there was a sandwich I call, "Apples and Friends" which encouraged Danny to eat different foods when he was small. If I gave something a silly name, it made the meal more attractive. Apples and Friends is little more than apples and cheddar on buttermilk bread. The whole thing is dipped in egg and milk (like eggy bread) and fried in a bit of butter. That will get you through a cold winter day. The rest of the apple was cut-up and served on the side. This isn't Instagram, so I didn't bother cutting perfect slices of apple. Real life here.

 The finches get a good meal at our place as well. They've discovered the sunflower seeds where they previously stayed on the nyjer feeder. Adventurous eaters, I guess.

The Juncos will eat just about anything, as long as it is on the ground.


OK enough of that, let's talk shoes.

 I didn't photograph them on my feet as I was taking my photos in the mirror today. These shoes+Step stool=trouble. I'm not looking for a broken hip, so here's a photo off-foot.

On flat surfaces though, these are great shoes. Uncomfortable, but look at them.  Can you feel the disco? I feel the disco.

 I fell in love with this ladybird waistcoat, and for a dollar it would have been silly to leave it-but it really doesn't fit. Much as I hate to, the ladybirds need to fly away home-to someone else's home.

Halston, Mackie-it's like 1975 threw-up all over my blog!

Good luck finding someone with a bigger rack than mine to fill it out. I rarely have trouble with clothes being too large on top. Ah well, I could take it in, but that's more work than I have time for. Being as memorable as it is, I think this is a "single-wear" item anyway.

I carefully washed the mirror less than twelve hours before taking these photos. Boys! How? What? Arrg. Anyway, ignore the spots on the glass and admire the unwholesome goodness of a vintage polyester pussy bow blouse. Let us now praise the Triacetate.

Are you old enough to remember the label, Fire Islander? I am. They made nice clothes, but they went the way of Ship and Shore. I've sewn the buttons back on this blouse more times than I care to remember, but that's the thing with vintage-you need to carry a mending kit in your purse, but you're rewarded with pieces you don't see on every other person walking around the city.

This shower-curtain is soon to be covered with the Vera you're used to seeing. I needed a new liner, and this was on sale.





Outfit Particulars:

Fire Islander 1970's/80's blouse-Goodwill
Skirt- Sears, about 15 years ago
Halston shoes-Goodwill
Waistcoat-New Life Thrift
Earrings-K Mart
Gaudy Liz Claiborne bracelet-can't remember, had it for ages
Fragrance-Eau du Givenchy-The first twenty minutes can sear the membranes from your sinuses, but then it settles down, and I find it pleasant. But oh, that first twenty minutes! It was released in 1980, but to me it really smells like a 90's perfume.

See? We made it to the middle of the week, Bonus happy news? The gardenia tree in the sunny window has buds. If that isn't a reason to smile, I don't know what is. I am too smiling. On the inside.