Inspired by his post, I’m thinking about clothes. One thing about a big move (when one is not accustomed to them) is that you have a pretty accurate dividing line between pre-move clothes and post-move clothes.* Interestingly, my clothes appear to have a half-life of four years.** There are some spectacular hold-outs; I have a plain black sweatshirt from about 1985 that’s battered but still in service, and of course things like dress coats hang around longer. Like the gentleman to whom I originally referred, I’m a believer in paying for quality because I tend to use things until they wear out. It irritates me that women’s fashion fights me in this; I have a quite expensive suit that I bought in my last year of college for interviews that is too damn ‘80s to wear these days.***

To continue in the vein of consumerism (‘tis the season!) we got an espresso maker. I have to say, it’s awesome. We bought it through Woot, so at about 70% less than regular retail price, and I really think it’s paid for itself. We haven’t been to Starbucks in ages, and not even to Peet’s nearly as often. My dad gave me the heads-up about the Woot offer on my iPhone when I was sitting by our friends’ pool in Phoenix, I ordered it then and there, and it arrived the next week. I really really like technology. R:tAG was able to make really good espresso almost instantly; it took me a bit longer to figure out the mysteries of grind and tamping. He was insisting on being addressed as “The Bean Whisperer” for a while, but I refused to indulge him.

A good thing to do, by the way, is take a double shot of espresso and add hot chocolate mix and honey (proportions to taste). That’s called a “Black Velvet”, and was apparently invented by a barista at a coffee shop near my parents’ place. I salute him.

To continue in the vein of food (‘tis also the season!), we had a potluck lunch at work today and these are a good and easy thing to bring to a potluck. I think they’d be even better with anchovies, but I am respectful of the sensibilities of my vegetarian co-workers. They outnumber me.




* I mean, I can manage to remember in which country I bought a particular item of clothing. Not much else.

** I’m going to try to forestall smart-ass comments and remind y’all that the concept of half-life does not necessarily have anything to do with radioactivity. It’s just the period of time after which there is only half of the original substance remaining, for whatever reason.

*** Plus I’ve gotten slightly broader across the beam since 1991. I can squeeze into the pencil skirt but a containment breach is a real possibility.

The less one blogs, the harder it is to get started again. I will explain. No, it is too much. I will sum up.

I missed International Invent A Horrible Soup Day.

We went to Dia de los Muertos party that our Phoenix friends hosted, which was much fun but which reinforced my desire to not live in Phoenix. I know that technically it is very similar to living in Saskatchewan* but I don’t care for being uncomfortably hot, much less in November. That’s just wrong.

By the way, if you have babies to put into costumes (you know, before they’re old enough to fight back) you should peruse these ideas. These ones in particular. Please won’t somebody with a baby get one of those? For me? It’d be even better if it weren’t Halloween, but I’m not fussy.

The US election turned out well, I thought, though I was just glad it was over.** My only concern now is trusting anyone who would want to be President, given all the current crap. The federal election was also an opportunity for individual states to do the voting thing, and California really disappointed me with Proposition 8. Happily, there are court cases going forwards because putting minority rights up to a popular vote is not really the ideal American way of doing things. It’s made me think a lot about privilege in general, though. I like the idea I read somewhere the best; let’s treat same-sex marriage like carbon credits. For every two heterosexual divorces, we can let one homosexual couple get married. The exact number is open to negotiation, of course; even a ten-to-one ratio might make everyone happy.

I said a while ago that I should really get to Venice before it’s too late, since I didn’t learn that lesson in time for New Orleans. Well, hell.

And now it’s almost Christmas, it still hasn’t really rained here (since, um, March maybe? And last year was also very dry) so next spring it might be us that gets the big wildfires instead of LA. Boy, looking forward to that.***

We’re going to the Dickens Fair sometime soon. I spent all Thanksgiving weekend making a dress for it (what, everyone doesn’t spend their long weekends making costumes?) but then I found out there’s a special Steampunk day. Sigh. Decisions, decisions.

And that’s all I can think of.

Edited to Add: Finally remembered to take a picture of the dress. It still needs hemming, and I'm showing it without the knitted lace collar and the white undersleeves.


It's actually taffeta from the Interior Decorating section of Joann's because I really liked the colour... so yes, it's a Civil War(ish) dress made out of curtains. Just call me Scarlett.

And I didn't mention that we got new bookcases, did I? We got new bookcases. From Ikea, the "Billi" style. I like the glass doors. They keep the dust off, unify the look, and discourage me from putting random stuff down on the shelves "temporarily" instead of putting away properly.



* For about half of the year, going outside is very unpleasant and you stick to climate-controlled areas. For most of the rest of the year, it’s all right with a few perfect days.

** An educational perspective is here, though.

*** Sarcasm hand sign here

 

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