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Archive for the ‘Musings’ Category

Epic Insult

Posted in Captain Cavedweller, Musings, tagged , , , , on November 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 

Tuesday I blogged about a silly gift I put together for my friend’s 40th birthday.

What I didn’t share with you is the trauma I experienced buying the candles for her cake.

It never fails that I will find the one chatty checker at the store. Captain Cavedweller can get in line and no one will say a word to him other than “did you find what you were looking for” and “thanks, have a nice day.”

Me, in the time it takes for the checker to ring up and  bag my purchases, I can know how many kids they have, why their brother is in jail, the last time their car was serviced and how they like their bread toasted.

The day I was buying my BFF’s candles, I stood smiling at the checker who would not stop talking about her washer and dryer, her kids aptitude for creating dirty laundry and why she wished her neighbors would bring back something they borrowed.

Nodding my head, only half-listening, she asked me about some of the gifts I was buying for BFF. I told her my friend was turning 40 and I was putting together a gift for her.

Without missing a beat, she picked up the “40” candles, looked at them, looked at me and asked, “So, are these for your daughter?”

I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped open. It is possible I even swallowed my gum.

I don’t know that I have ever been so insulted.

As in Epic Insult.

Sure I misheard what she asked, I couldn’t quite bring myself to have her repeat it. Apparently, from the time I got out of bed and ran to the store to the time I stood in her check-out line, I’d aged 20 years!

Finally able to speak, I shook my head. “No, they are for my friend.”

“Oh,” the checker said, then went on rambling about something else.

Fuming, I managed to contain my desire to slap some sense into the woman and thanked her as I piled bags in my cart and trudged out the door. I barely arrived home when Captain Cavedweller called to see how my day was going.

He got an ear-full about the checker which made him laugh so hard, I thought he might actually rupture something.

Since that wasn’t bad enough, he proceeded to tell several people at work who also thought it was hilarious.

I’m still living that whole thing down.

And I haven’t been back to the store since, either.

She Who Is Aging Rapidly

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Celebrating Milestones

Posted in Entertaining Ideas, Musings, Party Theme, tagged , , , , on November 13, 2012| 2 Comments »

 

A few weeks ago, a very dear friend turned 40.

As in the Big Four-Oh.

As in over-the-hill.

As in the best years of her life are behind her.

As in, she’s still younger than me…

I digress.

Anyhoooo…

I wanted to do something to let her know I thought her milestone birthday was pretty special.

So I bought her a bunch of junk, wrapped it up with lots of tape and disguised it in a beautiful box!

How’s that for being a great friend?

Seriously, though, this is a fun way to mark a milestone birthday.

I did something similar when my dad turned 70 and he thought it was awesome.

You can do this with any milestone birthday. Just set your budget, shop accordingly and have fun.

What you do is come up with a gift for each year of life the person is celebrating. In my BFF’s case, I needed 40 presents.

No problemo!

I got her super fun stuff like Silly Putty.

 

A fall table runner I knew she’d like.

 

A beach calendar so we can both fantasize about being somewhere warm and tropical and that the trip there would magically make us bronzed, thin and twenty years younger.

 

Pumpkin Spice tea- because it is one of the best things you can drink on a cold autumn day.

 

I even put in some sayings I knew would speak to her heart.

 

My point is that you don’t have to spend a fortune on the gifts, just find things you know the recipient will enjoy, laugh at, or appreciate.

Once you have assembled the necessary number of gifts, count them again, just to be sure. Then wrap each one individually. Yes, this will take a little time, but the look on their face when they get their gift is priceless!

 

Forty gifts wrapped and ready to give. To keep the excitement going, I piled all these into one big box, then wrapped it to look like the actual gift.

Ta da! How cool is that?

 

Try this out with someone who is celebrating a milestone. It is guaranteed to make them smile and let them know who much you care.

She Who Has Way Too Much Fun with this Stuff

 

 

 

 

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A Monday List

Posted in Captain Cavedweller, Musings, tagged , , on November 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

See that cute little girl sneezing with a pile of tissues. If you took out the cute and little girl part and inserted annoyed, chocolate-eating, mid-aged freakazoid, the picture would look exactly like I did last week!

Captain Cavedweller and I went to a book signing the weekend before last. The morning we were ready to leave, I woke up sick. With a cold. No big deal.

Until I woke up really sick the morning of the book signing, five hours from home and on the schedule for an eight-hour event.

Being the great guy that he is, Captain Cavedweller washed his hands 49 times, ran across the street from the hotel to Wally-world and got me a box of tissues and a three month supply of cold medicine.

Doped up, we headed off to the book signing.

The day was somewhat of a blur for me – as is the trip home and most of last week.

But I did learn a few things:

1. When doped up on cold meds, you may be inclined to do things you would not normally do when all your mental faculties are functioning properly.

2. You really can smile until your cheeks hurt.

3. It is nearly impossible for someone prone to sneezing when they are sick to not sneeze.

4. There really is a huge difference in the softness of some tissues.

5. Apparently some illnesses can greatly alter your ability to taste.

6. Saltine crackers left opened in a drawer at the office for goodness only knows how long will taste like varnish when you are in the midst of a wicked cold.

7. The taste of varnished crackers will linger in your mouth for approximately two and a half days, until you burn your taste buds off with a cup of tea that is way too hot.

8. You can really hear yourself think when your ears are so plugged no outside sound will penetrate.

9. After you’ve lost the ability to think, taste and hear, it only stands to reason smell will be next to go.

10. There is nothing pretty about an annoyed, chocolate-eating, mid-aged freakazoid with a bad cold.

She Who is Glad to be On the Mend

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Wind Turbines at Sunset

Posted in Captain Cavedweller, Entertaining at Home, Musings, tagged , , , , on October 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 

Where we live, we have a pretty great view of some of the wind turbines set on the hills around our valley.

I don’t know what it is about them, but I love seeing this big white blades reaching up into blue sky. Especially when they are surrounded by fields of golden wheat, like these were in the summer.

The other night Captain Cavedweller and I were driving home with a car full of groceries. It was almost sunset and although the day had been gray and rainy, the sun had peeked out from behind the clouds, illuminating the wind machines.

I could tell it was going to be a glorious descent of light and wanted to capture it on camera.

As soon as we got home, I grabbed my camera and ran into our backyard, only to realize the neighbor’s trees were going to obstruct the view too much.

So CC and I hustled to unload the car and I left him with bags of groceries to put away while I jumped back in the car and drove about a half-mile from our house.

Pulling off to the side of the road, I think the neighbor’s thought I’d finally lost it as I stomped out to the edge of their field in my skirt and heels, but I wanted to get just the right angle.

And so began the evening spectacular  – a fabulous show of colors against the purple and green hills.

And then it got even better.

She Who Needs to Watch More Sunsets

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