Saturday, July 21, 2007

FIRSTS!!!!

I've had a series of firsts here lately.

In no particular order, they are:

eBay. I made my first eBay purchase.



I saw these while reading another blog (scroll down to last picture). One of the comments mentioned they are no longer available in stores, but available on eBay, so I quickly dashed there and put in a bid. And got them. YAY. OK, "got them" meaning I've got the bid. This whole eBay thing is NOT for someone who is into instant gratification. I think the auction closed last Thursday (as in last week), the P@ypal payment finally cleared yesterday, so I'm still waiting....waiting....waiting.

I've always been somewhat intimidated by the whole eBay thing. I had some Pfalzgraft dishes I thought about selling and when I checked out how to do it, I figured a garage sale was much easier. As it ended up, Meghan needed them for her apartment last year, so that took care of decisions for me.

OK, second First..... I bought something on QVC. Earrings. Two pair. I had a friend who was on sick leave several years ago, and she said she had to go back to work to break the QVC habit she developed while recovering (and for several birthdays and Christmases after that, I received items I KNEW were QVC purchases...but were very nice and fit mny tastes)(can you tell I'm covering myself in case she reads this?)(but seriously, they were nice)(honest).

But whenever I'm channel surfing and run across QVC, they are selling some kind of elastic-waist old ladies' slacks or something frumpy, so I've never felt the urge to stop and watch. Then buy.

But the other night....earrings. Gorgeous. So gorgeous, in fact, that I bought a pair of white gold and yellow gold. The yellow gold arrived 4 days later. That was a week ago and I'm still waiting on the white gold that were shipped the same day. QVC customer service advises me to wait until July 22 before I panic and pitch a fit. So, I'm thinking that will be my last QVC purchase. And to make sure, I did NOT watch when the Dooney and Burke handbags were being sold beause, OH, love the D&B.

Third first, massage. By a guy. I've had a couple of massages by women and they were OK. Last week, a co-worker and I decided the cure for being away from home for an extended period of time and working the hours we are was to treat ourselves to massages and parafin body wraps.

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

I got the parafin body wrap first. Never had one before. Not sure I'll get one again, but it was a great experience. I will admit that during the process, I was thinking "It's a good thing my grandma has passed on because if she knew I was paying to have hot wax poured over me, she'd have a hissy fit." But after I was covered in parafin and they wrapped me in ...whatever it was... it was just a slice of heaven.

Then the wax was removed and I went for the massage by a Russian rowing coach, Leonid. He started with my right leg and after one stroke, exclaimed, "You're just like a candle!"

When my massage was over, I dressed, then turned and looked at the table and noticed it was covered with chunks of parafin.

My co-worker got the wrap after her massage and while I was getting my massage. She's convinced that on our way home, she left a trail of parafin flakes behind her. We also noted as we walked back to our hotel, that walking in flipflops with "parafin feet" takes a certain skill. That we apparently don't possess.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

TRADITION!!

I'm a big fan of holiday traditions. And traditions aren't limited to "The Holidays" in November and December.

My daughters and I had a Fourth of July tradition of going down to the St. Louis Riverfront to watch the fireworks. I'm not a big fan of crowds. Hate them. But on the Fourth, it was worth it to me to elbow our way through hundreds of thousands of people eating funnel cake and corn-on-the cob, walk down the steps on the Arch grounds, stumble over the cobblestones and get to the river's edge. Then we'd wait an hour or so before seeing one of the most spectacular fireworks displays around.

Some people would talk about how well they could see the fireworks from miles away while sitting on lawnchairs in their front yards. OK, you may be able to see the higher fireworks, but miss out on all of the ground works. And the "wow" factor of seeing them up close.

The girls haven't been in St. Louis for several years for the Fourth, but they still talk about those times.

This year, I'm visiting Jenni and Tim and we're watching their neighbors prepare for their Fourth of July tradition. They have their grandchildren visit and participate in what they call "Cousin Camp". Apparently, there is a theme for the annual Cousin Camp. This year's theme is "Cowboys and Indians".

In the front yard, three teepees have been erected.





The back yard apparently is the cowboy territory as it has a fort. And a graveyard. We're a little perplexed by that one, to tell the truth. You'll have to squint, it's the white spot in the photo, which was larger. Blogger shrunk them for some reason.



The cousins haven't arrived yet; probably due later today.

Cousin Camp. What a great memory-maker.

Then there's this perplexing Fourth of July tradition.