Beating the Blues

Can you call it "the blues" if you've got it from not ever seeing blue sky?  Shouldn't it be called "the grays"?  I guess I'm treading in Breakfast at Tiffany's teritory, here.  But, honestly.   It's gotten so bad that in a brief moment of real sunshine, I see it glinting off a car and want to call attention to it.  Like some child seeing a bird for the first time.  "Look!  See?  Shiny!  Warm!  Want!"

It's getting ugly desperate up in here.

So, in order to banish the gray sky/high winds blues I went shopping.  I know that a lot of people do this as therapy, but it's not really my style.  I'm not what you'd call a girly girl.  I prefer whisky and soda to some pink drink that tastes like candy, I hate shopping for clothes and, I never want to spend more than three minutes on my hair and makeup.

But today, I joined the masses of men and woman who soothe themselves with consumerism.  Just to prove I haven't lost myself completely, I started at an estate sale.  I was highly rewarded with some gorgeous 80s earrings.  $3 each.

I can't wait to wear them.  Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and Sophia are going to be so proud.  The polka dot pair gets worn on the diagonal.  Like badasses.  The light pink pair has a very pearly shine.  The round ones are just huge, and the squares are a very saturated plum color that I'm in love with.

This dude was hidden way in the back of a table full of Christmas junk.  He was covered in wax drippings of every color that thankfully, did not stain.  $4 Napco reindeer head vase.  I can't wait to cram some Christmas picks in his head, or maybe some sparkly garland, ooh-ooh!  Or maybe some glass garland!  So many choices!!

After the estate sale I went tanning.  Ten minutes of warmth and "sun".   It's always so jarring when that light snaps off and you are slammed back into the reality of laying half naked in a light bulb coffin.  We do what we must to survive.  I imagine the first human inhabitants of Mars will experience similar moments.  

Then it was onward to a real store.  Where I paid full price for a pair of brown wedge shoes and a mint green purse after going in after dresses and shirts.  More money than I've spent on myself for two things in a very, very long time. This is the way retail therapy works, I'm told.

So, In Summary:

Just Another American Spending Until I Feel Happy

A Hit

I refer to a really good sale as "a hit".  Like an addict.  A sale where you get all kinds of goodies is "a hit"  and today, I had one.

Last night I loaded up my car with donations for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Rochester sale.  Today was the donation day.  On my way to donate, there happened to be a really juicy looking estate sale that I'd stalked online.  It had plastic, and lots of it.  You know how I love my plastic.

It makes a lot of sense to me to donate goods and purchase more goods on the same day.  Almost within the same hour.  Circle of life type shit.  Good stuff.

I spent $7.

Three of those dollars were spent on this.  A denim clothespin holder.  I'm lucky enough to have a relatively dry basement with a clothesline in it.  Why not outside, you ask?  Aren't clotheslines supposed to be outside, so that you get the scent of the air and the sun on your clothes as they bask and dry?  Don't be an idiot.  This is New York state.  If I had an outdoor clothesline I could use it two, maybe three minutes per year.  And the only scents my clothes would imbibe from being outside would be cold and despair with a side of taxes, maybe. In general clothespin holders are more adorable than this.  I figure if I find a cuter one, I'll just trade up.

Now on to the real haul. Sadly, someone with similar taste to mine (or someone who will be attending a white elephant party sometime soon) got there before me and scooped up some of the more glamorous plastic items.  Like the plastic leaf candle ring with plastic flocked chicks and Easter eggs and the huge plastic bunny floral pick.  The good news is that there was enough plastic and holiday flotsam to satiate my considerable appetite.

Plus, I was just talking about not having enough Easter decorations, and BAM!  A few more. You can't really tell from this picture but the tiny white Easter bunny second from the right is wearing an Easter basket as a hat, people.  It's ridiculous. All of the picks were .50 together, the plastic flocked pumpkin was also .50, and all four of the tiny plastic easter dudes in front were .50 as a set.  The chartreuse glass garland was one whole dollar. 

Will you look at how unhappy those honeycomb pumpkin party picks are?  They've had it.

So, in Summary:

That Hit Was So Good I Basically Can't Even

Ain't No Sunshine

Only darkness, everyday.

Honestly, this winter is worse than last winter.  I say is worse, because we had snow yesterday.  In April. On Easter.  As a general rule, NY state is not a sunny one.  We have full cloud cover at least part of almost every day.  Lately I've been feeling like I run on solar power and haven't had access to real light in ages.  My batteries are run down and I'm desperate enough to chase a beam of light across the office, inching my chair to stay in it as it moves across the day.

Blue sky is very distracting.  I can't stop looking at it when it shows itself. In those brief, gorgeous moments I become fully entranced by it.  Blue sky is totally mesmerizing.  As if I've never seen it before.  But, it does feel like that. Most days.

Of course, the rare sunny day does not also mean that it is warm.  We haven't really seen warm yet.  Only flirted with it a little.  I can't wait to be hot.  Not just warm but hot.  I want to remember what it feels like to sweat.  I'll even happily take boob sweat at this point.  And you know how gross and uncomfortable that is.

I've been doing a bit of sale-ing and a bit of decorating to distract me from the horror that is six months of winter.

I'm happily living in a dream world by collecting objects for a room I don't have: My tropical tiki bedroom.  I got this tray for $1.  It's hand painted, probably at one of those ceramic shops long ago.  It's got great graphic appeal and will look great holding some of my gold bracelets in the bedroom of my dreams.  I got the set of wooden bangle bracelets for $5.  Because this dream room extends to my wardrobe.  You gotta have wooden bangle bracelets to be a good tiki lady.

I got this gorgeous red plastic spoon straw (yes, they are both spoon and straw!) set for 75 cents.  What a hip thing to stir your cocktail with!

This robin's egg wreath was picked up on sale at JoAnn Fabrics.  I thought it was too pretty not to share.  It looks great with my Easter decor, which has been up since last month.  Of course.

Here is the fireplace mantle.  New this year is the addition of the small paper lanterns.  Still cannot get enough of those.  I'd really love to find some vintage honeycomb paper easter eggs.  Though now I've probably jinxed it.

This is a shelf in my dining room decked out for the holiday.

A close up of my awesome vintage chick couple.  Made of styrofoam and felt mostly.

The colors of this garland fit better in the living room, but I couldn't find the right spot for it this year.  It's doing it's thing in the dining room instead.

I absolutely love the colors of my main Easter display.  Hot pink, green and yellow. Bright and sugary.  I've collected some very adorable things over the years.

This is my glass front cabinet, all duded up for the holiday.  I got the phrase "duded up" from Back to the Future 3, in case you are wondering what is going on with that.  I believe the full line is, "All duded up like some egg-sucking gutter trash."  That's it.  The holiday spirit!

The inside of the cabinet, door by door.

That's it for Easter.  I don't even have enough decorations for the bathroom!  Can you believe it?  The horror.

The good news is that the Ronald McDonald Charities sale is next month.  So hopefully I can remedy my terrible Easter decoration drought.

So, In Summary:

Winter is the devil.

And also I'd like to hear more people use the term "egg-sucking gutter trash" when referring to friends and family members.