{Virtual Coffee}

If we were meeting for coffee today I would want a long, tall, cold one. I would tell you my hot flashes seemed to have stepped up and I would never have believed I could be left panting with virtually no effort on my part. On Sunday we took Riley to Cars 2 and I sat in the ice box of a cinema and swam around in my chair in a pool of sweat.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that last week I went for a massage, the first one in a few years. Normally I don't really like anyone touching me like that and I think I have put up mental blocks other times on the table but I think I found a master healer in Maria. When it was over I felt inches taller and more clear headed than I have ever felt. She took years of stress and tension out of my body and I am so grateful I gave this gift to myself to start off our summer.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would show you (finally) my repainted bathroom.

I would tell you about this "student" company I hired to do the job and how much of a rip off it turned out to be. Sloppy work, disrespectful painters walking around my house and it will likely have to be redone in a year because of the lack of preparation but I am just going to live with it right now and enjoy the clean look. I had a follow up call this week from the company for feedback on the project and I gave them an earful, so I now feel closure with all this.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you about this ridiculous bag of chips I found, bought and ate.

Each chip was heavily coated - and I don't even particularly like ketchup.

And while we were talking about food I would tell you that Riley had his first Gigi's pizza last week and you would agree that there is nothing better than Gigi's.

If we were meeting for coffee today you would ooooh and aaaah over some treasures I brought home from my mother's recently. With her upcoming marriage and move to another city, she is clearing out some of her baggage. While my sister left with the grandfather clock and her cedar chest, I would say I think I got the better deal when I scored her button box

skeleton keys

and her box of lace bits

Isn't that butterfly smocking amazing?

Then of course there was the metal Craven A box (love the black cat)

My father's wedding ring she bequeathed to Riley

ditto the Limoges plate

I remembered my grandmother wearing this cameo often so I claimed it

and it was a toss up over her two Hummel figures so I let my sister choose hers first. Mine came with the embroidered Linens cloth.

Even though I have no idea what I am going to do with all this stuff, I would tell you that the memories from my childhood are thick in it. And instead of making me feel old, I feel proud to have come from an era where care was taken in manufacturing and the packaging of a product was meant to last almost forever.

If we were meeting for coffee today I would show you my first pair of El Naturalistas.

which came to me in a whole mad-cap caper kind of way, thanks to The Queen of Arts. I saw these in a local store but the $174 price tag (over $200 with tax) made me choke. Online I scored them for $114 but the catch was the company doesn't deliver to Canada. So The Queen (and her amazing Dave) stepped in to accept them and ferry them all the way to me on their last trip here. Woot!

And before we headed over to Amy's to see what she has cooking today, I would show you our first seasonal buttercup which Riley pointed out to me this morning whilst my own brain was already five miles ahead of where I actually was.

Kids are great for bringing you back to center. Oooh, look Amy at Lucky Number 13 has left her sidewalk chalk outside, let's go and draw something naughty!