December

 

We come bearing gifts of horse de-wormer, arthritis medications, and bleach. 

These ladies would like a word about the bloodletting thing. Please don't draw your own blood, pray over it, and re-inject it. You can keep your blood inside while you pray. Thank you.

He's just had UV light shone up his arse. He still has Covid. 

Hasten Jason, bring the basin

Whops, plops, 

Bring the mops

I hear the new variant will really leave you dragon. 

Gah, I'm at the end of my rope. Another friendship ended over vaccine conspiracy nonsense. I'm having a hard time dealing with it. After nearly two years of this, they're still willing to die or develop long term illness for this childish nonsense. They definitely don't care if they infect or kill someone. 

Thirty five years or so ago, when I was in school the zealous religious types would want to argue evolution with me declaring, "I don't believe in evolution." 

The thing is, I don't either. Evolution isn't a belief system. Just as religion isn't science-you can't take it into a lab and test it. They're different things, but even back then before everyone was quite so hysterical, I couldn't get that distinction across to people. 

In the years between I've watched as bit by bit science has been undermined by school boards increasingly dominated by these types that want evolution taught in the same course as creationism, as "different theories." Then, it was climate change being removed from science curriculums by people that had no background in science. Over and over for the last few decades the idea gets repeated that science can't be trusted. Science can be wrong, therefore it is always wrong. Changing what we know is seen as weakness. The reasoning is so, so pathetic, yet here we are. 

Social media didn't create this mess, but it certainly has played a large part in spreading the ideas far and wide. What used to be largely an American form of madness has now found eager audiences around the world. We could have been exporting the good stuff like Hollywood movies, Levi's, and pop music, but instead the US will be known to history as the country that had people bathing in Borax to un-do the microchip in the vaccine. 

If I weren't living through it, a mass delusion on this scale would be interesting because nothing in Tulip Mania, the South Sea Bubble, or the Salem Witch Trials can hold a match to it. If humans don't do ourselves in between the climate, wars, and disease, it will probably make for interesting reading in a hundred years or so. 

Thank you for letting me get that off my chest. I've tried to keep in mind that so many of these people are victims of  very cruel manipulation. I understand that, and I've tried being sympathetic to their suffering as well, but I'm running out of compassion. I don't want to become the sort of person that can't try to extend a hand to others with different ideas, but more and more I'm just retreating. I spent most of 2020 inside and it looks like 2022 will be shaping up the same. I can't get any sicker-there's no hospital beds. there's an 11:1 ratio right now of those hospitalised in Nebraska. I'll let you guess which ratio are the vaccinated. If I get in a car accident there's a good chance I'll end up in a hospital one or more states away because we've got a governor that decided to play brinksmanship with our medical system. I'm going to be spending a lot of time at the hospital this month having out-patient procedures. I'm hoping it goes smoothly because if there's complications, good luck finding a hospital bed in Nebraska. That's me being purely selfish, but there's so many people I know that have done the correct thing, stayed home, skipped routine medical stuff, and are now paying the price. I'm angry, resentful, and just incredibly tired. I know if pressed I would probably say I understand and feel sorry for these anti-vaxxers. At least I hope I would. Maybe not right now. 

Enough of that. 

Hello! The December sparkly outfits have started off with a bang. 

I wasn't going to buy the polyurethane skirt as it isn't the sort of thing that goes well with my wardrobe. I've tried stuff like this before, and it just isn't my look. Or so I thought. Persuaded by the fact that it was only a dollar, I brought it home figuring if nothing else it would make an interesting waterproof skirt to do housework in. My first thought was to throw a black sweater at it and add a nice scarf, but that's exactly the sort of approach that takes it from a bit different to dead ordinary. Instead, I wore it with this vintage 80s JG Hook sweater and a giant sparkly brooch. 

I'm thinking of tatting a tiny Santa hat for the spider to keep it in the holiday mood. 

I need to start lining my lips when applying lipstick. Not that anyone sees it but me. This one was a discontinued Wet and Wild Silk Finish  I bought a few years ago at Big Lots/ God only knows when it was discontinued, but it is a perfect dupe for the 80s Revlon shade, Seafleur. I wish they'd bring that back, but this was awfully close. It stayed on through numerous cups of tea and there will still traces of pigment at 10 PM. As cheap cosmetics go, this was a winner. 

The handbag is a little beat up, but it presents well with an outfit. It appears to be trying to impersonate a Dorset Rex handbag, but not quite making it. 

This dress isn't vintage. I have a vintage dress in a similar style , but I don't wear it much because it is fragile. Much like the skirt above, this cheap dress was something I thrifted figuring it would be nicer than a house dress for cleaning. Unlike the vintage dress, this one moves easily with me and is machine washable. Definite advantage. I actually like the colour. I added the vintage belt which was in almost the same exact shade. 

That white is the lining it came with, not a slip. I don't care for it, but it gets the overall job done. 

Didn't end up requiring the jacket long as it has been unseasonably warm here. I washed the windows this week-something that ought to be impossible in Nebraska come December. 

I'm certain you've seen both these pieces before. The sweater was from K Mart years and years ago, and the skirt is a Vera print that might well have started life as a tablecloth. I'll never know for certain. 

I didn't get to my age without knowing what colours work for me, and this particular shade of blue has always been a winner. 

You've seen this vintage dress as well.

The handbag is a rare velvet and embroidery Lulu Guinness. I rather like her bags, they're whimsical without being outrageous. 

I don't use it much as I'm trying to keep it nice. Some things just have the feel of a future collectible. 

The coat I wore that day is fun. Made of raffia, and lined in silk it was likely intended for cool summer evenings. I think Omaha hit close to 70 F that day (in December!) which is like a cool summer evening. Anyway, gave the coat a first wear and am delighted with how it looks.

Isn't that unusual? I have a raffia skirt, but the coat is a first for me. 

Anyone for some vintage Pendleton?

Suits are great this time of year when a coat would be too much and a nuisance to carry around indoors.

This suit never fails to get compliments and I've probably missed numerous opportunities to sell it. 

Rare photo of me wearing white gloves. I just can't keep from feeling like I look like a policeman about to direct traffic. 

And of course, jazz hands.

The dress is modern, everything else including the shoes are vintage. 

Thought the dress might look good with an 80s Indonesian fabric jacket, and I was correct.

Those are some serious shoulder pads in the jacket.

These items are very old, bought new in the 80s. The skirt is from Talbots and still look much as it did when I bought it. The shirt is stretchy and knit with a shiny thread. 

The wreath brooch is also something I bought in the 80s.

Before I get back to the clothes how about a quick look at the tree? I'd like to share some of our favourite ornaments with you.

We bought an artificial tree as my allergies wouldn't survive a real one. We expect to get years of use from it. 

Danny made the owl when he was small. 

I remember making these with him. 

The bee was mine. We found him last year packed away in the box of antique trains from the family. It was nice to see it again after so many years we decided to keep it with the Christmas items when we put up the tree and trains. 

This was made by a local wildlife artist. She died last year (of extreme old age) but it is nice to remember her and the lovely work she did. We have a few of her ornaments on the tree. 

Well, Danny's hell-bent on going so I thought he'd get a kick out of the ornament. Who knows if he'll be able to get to France this spring with things as they are? He has a bit of time beyond that before university so *fingers crossed* spring of '23 will be better. 

The glass balls are very old "Shiny Brite" brand ornaments. I buy them when I see them, but they're getting scarce now. 

Some more of Danny's artwork in this owl and the bread dough candy cane ornament in the lower left. 

It had perfume. Back in the 70s my mother had one that I wasn't permitted to play with (I really wanted to liberate that cat) so I bought one years later for myself (Thanks, Emily!) and now it hangs on the tree. I removed the vial of perfume to prevent any accidental spills as I definitely wouldn't want my tree smelling like Max Factor Hypnotique!

Another vintage ornament stamped W. Germany

Yeah, but I actually live off of Dodge Street. I needed an Omaha ornament. 

And a turkey. My son would live on turkey and nothing else if he could. He thought it was funny. 

Anyway, back to the clothes.

I'm going to do a quick run through these as they're nothing terribly special.

I don't know why these are all out of order but, eh whatever.

New-to-me coat

It is a beautiful little thing, but not terribly warm so it likely won't get much wear in the dead of winter. That's okay, I have coats for that. 

 

More bargain rail clothing. The skirt was .49 cents!

This is what I wore to get my covid test this morning. I have two hospital procedures planned for Friday and they require a negative test two days ahead. I'm negative, so I guess we're all systems go for Friday.

Yes, people did laugh but that was good. It broke the tension and stress of having to get a swab shoved down your nose. Anyway, I'm trying to make the best of a bad situation. 

I have kind of a bad situation (but hey, it isn't Covid). Friday is going to be unpleasant, but that's okay. We're sneaking in just under the wire as the hospital announced today that they're postponing all these elective procedures after the 13th of December because the hospital is getting slammed again with covid patients. When they say "elective" they don't mean something like cosmetic surgery. They mean anything that isn't a lifesaving emergency. So you can still come to Omaha and get shot and they'll take the bullet out of you, but you might not be able to get an organ transplant. Thanks, Covidiots! Anyway, I'm trying to stay positive about it because what else can you do? Anyway, fingers crossed for Friday. Tomorrow I get to spend the day drinking laxatives. Fun times. 

Part of keeping my head together through all this is doing things I enjoy, so I took myself to Mulhall's garden centre after the covid test and bought the yearly holiday topiary. Most years I get rosemary (last year's is still alive in the garden) but this year I also bought lavender. In the sunny kitchen window they are going to smell so wonderful. 

I also bought a poinsettia as last years also made it to the garden, though I didn't bother bringing it in as it was getting spindly. Not to jinx it but I plan to be around next summer so hopefully these will get transplanted into the garden. Until then, I get to enjoy them indoors. 

See you this weekend when this latest round is done. Maybe I'll have something better to talk about in my next post like the crazy results of my DNA test. Briefly, I already kind of knew, but now I know the details and whooo weee I didn't see that coming! I thought Danny was entitled to have my DNA in the event of my untimely demise, so now that's done. Any way, that'll be a lot more interesting than my broken guts and dying kidneys. At least I think so. 

Take care and stay away from Covidiots.