Tuesday, June 28, 2011

{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!


14 comments:

thecatalanway said...

hello this is an interesting virtual coffee - with virtusl conversation!
I am on my coffee break from working with children today - sending you some virtual hugs and a wave K xx

Cheryl said...

Wow! That was great. Could we do it again?

Moomser said...

A massage a week keeps the doctor away, I say!
I'm sorry the repainting disappointed you but the color's great!
Also, love Naturalistas, so comfy.

Cheryl said...

I don't care what your sister took, you scored BIG time! I love your treasures...especially the lace! Surprisingly, my mom also smoked Craven A so I'm very familiar witht the black cat. And the bathroom color is GORgeous.

oreneta said...

Love those shoes and that lace is utterly spectacular. What lovely items from your Mom!

Claire said...

great photos! sorry about the painters :( but the colour's fab!! just LOVE all those treasures - the boxes as much as the contents :) and i love the shoes!!!!
and thanks for your lovely comment - i used to have a thing about people touching my feet too, but the plusses outweigh the minuses :) xx

Elisa Black said...

What lovely treasures from your mother and grandmother-- enjoy! And I love your new shoes! What a great color choice for your bathroom-- sorry to hear about the bad experience with the painters. So glad you had such a cathartic massage experience-- sounds like heaven! Please send Maria my way! Thanks for coffee!

Jade @ Tasting Grace said...

Ooh massages are lovely! So glad you found someone who does them well for you. Those ketchup chips...yeah, I don't know about them apples. :[ I love the color for your bathroom, though I'm sorry to hear about the shoddy paint job. You sure did score with your mom's trinkets though! Thanks so much for coffee, your blog is always one of my favorites! You've always got a ton of fun stuff going on.

Kim Mailhot said...

So much to love in this post, Kimmypoo. I even get to drool over Gigi's pizza !!!
So glad you found a treasure in Maria. My mom told me you had called to thank her for the connection.
Glad your fancy shoesies are doing it for you !
And glad that the treasures from your mom's house will live with you for awhile. It shure was fun to visit with them.
Here's for focusing on the good stuff !
Cheers !

Lis said...

I am home, trying to ease back into things and just this morning was thinking about your virtual coffee gatherings and how much i wish I could jet pack over the border for a REAL cuppa and some conversation!

So much here ... I love the story of El Naturalistas (I just got my first pair a month ago after coveting them for 2 years ... thankfull zappos.com ships free and upgraded me so I had the object of desire within 24 hours!) ... your mother's stash (i have some buttons to share with you!) and - sigh - stories of perimenopause. I was at an apothecary in Boulder (home of all things natural, hippy wonderful and alternative) and asked about treatments to ease the "transition." Do you take fish oils? The woman emphasized that is the only thing across the board that has helped. She said you can do more than is listed on the bottle. Thinking about it, I have been better about taking my fish oil (now that I combine it with my calcium "candy" which i NEVER forget to gobble, I mean, take) and I have been having a gentler time.

More shoe shots please!

xo Lis

Sherry said...

I loved having coffee with you (even if I'm 2 days late!!!). I LOVE those shoes and hugs and kudos to the Queen and the King for bringing them over the border for you!! woot!!!!

I love all your keepsakes..seeing those old boxes and tins sent me back to my own childhood and all the reasons you wanted those things is every good reason!!!! Love that your mother is giving your father's wedding band to Riley. Choked me up a bit.

Sorry about the sweats...I missed all that because of the meds I'm on which have the added "bonus" of blocking hot flashes. But I do feel for you!!!!

Breeze said...

A few thoughts. My strategy for picking out mementos from my mother's belongings after she died was to go small; so I picked out her wedding ring, while my sister picked out her mahogony bedroom furniture set (gorgeous but what would I do with it?).
And don't get me started on bad paint jobs.... A new kitchen remodel; well of course, the paint job is beautiful. But after a couple of years it bubbled and peeled and it's obvious that there is no primer! I've been told I am in for years of patchwork.

Unknown said...

I'm diggin' the new kicks...nice, and they look comfy too. I like shoes because the size never (hardly ever) changes.

Also likin' the skeleton keys and the kitchy items from your mom, too cool.

As for the chips...ummm...yeah those you can keep.

We will be taking E to see Cars 2 next week. What did you think?

Anyway, have a lovely weekend.

trashmaster46 said...

That reminded me of going through my mother's things after she died. She had a bunch of boxes of stuff from when her parents died several years earlier, but she moved a couple of times shortly after they died and never really went through the boxes. I was the first one to open them in a long, long time. All sorts of treasures to sort through.