Thursday, July 31, 2014

Mary Peterson: Object of Charity

Mary Peterson: Object of Charity - Archaeology Magazine Archive

Vixen Vintage: Ruffles and bows

Vixen Vintage: Ruffles and bows: Although this dress is from the 1950s, it has a 1920s feel to it with thin airy cotton and layered tiers. My hair was a bit of a mess today...

And now we hear from one of my shero's!!!

Cleveland kidnapping survivor Michelle Knight discusses new memoir: Michelle Knight talks about her time in captivity, what helped her survive and how she felt when she found out about Ariel Castro's suicide.

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I love her! admire her! and have to 100% agree with her "lesson learned" she states in this interview!!!  That a woman who has been through all she has been through, can speak so eloquently, and can be so dignified about the people who hurt her post-captivity, is MY "lesson learned"!

Friday, July 18, 2014

maybe I'll be the crazy cat lady on the other side?

Life Is Worth The Fight: An awfully big adventure?: source So today was the day I went and saw a counsellor. I think it went well. My entire life I've managed to avoid having to &q...

Wheelingalong24: Wheelchair Fashion: Yorkshire Lavender

Wheelingalong24: Wheelchair Fashion: Yorkshire Lavender: Hi everyone. How nice has the weather been? I actually have a touch of natural tan. How freaky is that? I've not had a natural tan...

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Beautiful tribute!

Gingersnap: I'M THANKFUL FOR YOU, CHAD.: I have something very special to be thankful for this year. Last month, on October 18, as I was in the JFK airport on my way to catch...

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Here's one reason to watch a "high school" show ---

Very exciting stuff I watched earlier this evening!  It was the 100th episode of "Pretty Little Liars", which I have followed since my previous address, actually, and even read some of the books by Sara -- wait, stop --

Jean ... ummm do you realize YOU JUST TURNED 51?!!

I can tell you all about 'fashion tv' and my love of mysteries ... but there is another, stronger reason why I'm enthralled -- for example, let's talk about the 100th episode:

The backstory is this - and has been for 4 seasons:  Alison was murdered, found in a shallow grave ... she was the Queen Bee///Mean Girl type of her high school, so yeahhh there were plenty of suspects! -- but - wait!  We very recently realized that she has actually been ALIVE! all this time, hiding out from the killer!!! --

Her 2 years in hiding has really made her reflective on all the nasty things she did ... and contrite.  And wanting to change.  And so in the 100th episode, she walks back into the high school, on a mission to begin to make amends --

Only there are an awful lot of people who refuse to see her change (other than from presumed dead - buried!, in a massive funeral - to alive) ....

Now this is where this show is so excellent (in my humble opinion!) :  How very often has there been change -- but people refused to believe in it, or didn't like "the new you revue", and tried to sabotage it?!  --

I'm sober now:  yes, I was an alcoholic when we hung out together.

I'm seeing a man ... I'm ummm in a serious relationship with a woman.

You know, I actually like .... my relative who has a developmental disability ... that style of decorating .... that congregation -- yes!  I know all about THIS, THAT, AND THE OTHER THING, dammit it to hell! .... 

Feel free to add where you've bunked into this, in the comments below :

cocobirdy: Victory Rolls

cocobirdy: Victory Rolls: Aren't these photographs about Victory Rolls absolutely darling! I have been longing to try the styling for some time and I think that ...

He lost, or never developed a filter that separates the rest of us from the world around us

Young dancer’s violent death leaves friends, family searching for answers - The Santa Fe New Mexican: Local News

Monday, July 14, 2014

From the corners of the Curve.: The Fatkini Post.

From the corners of the Curve.: The Fatkini Post.: So I finally decided to write the 'Fatkini' post. For those that don't know Fatkini is a term to describe a bikini that us plus...

Friday, July 11, 2014

I feel about 98 years old, actually ....

A while back now (within the last several weeks ...), I've realized that my chronic Lyme's disease has gone into active status again ... one of the things I would dearly love to figure out is what exactly sets it off ?! and if anyone knows this, please tell me!!!

Over the past few days it has been especially rough, to where at first I thought "geez, Jean, maybe you should even -gasp! - think about calling the doc?!" -- but then this morning I realized "oh it's just S-Lyme's!"  .... to give you an idea, let me tell you about my supermarket trip last evening:

-- which happened last evening, btw, because I was just feeling too poorly all day ... but ... by the time there was the passage of time, taking it very easy, AND a wonderful nap with kitty-cats strewn about my person <3, I felt up to the task!

-- and I got about halfway through my shopping trip and it became a shopping experience:  an experience in order to be able to finish it, that is!  I was so tired, that walking to checkout line one, where my favorite cashier was stationed, seeming like hiking up Massanutten mountain ... in high heels ... with one arm tied behind my back and green-headed flies nipping at my skin ... after I hadn't had enough sleep, or physical training, or coffee!, to do said hike - yeahhh ....

So, here's the thing:  please excuse my appearance, and my dirty clothes, because I'm too sick to consider the laundromat or even shopping for replacements right now!!!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Book Review: "A Strange Stirring"

Book reviewed:  "A Strange Stirring:  The 'Feminine Mystique' and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s" by Stephanie Coontz

When I was married, I one time gave my husband a gift of a book that was an alternative history ... it was possibly the worst gift I ever gave!  I still remember the day he tossed it down in frustration (after muttering at it over and over), unable to continue because he knew how it actually happened ...

That's my frustration and non-continuance with this particular book, whose author ironically has the same first name as my mom - who is the reason I cannot continue reading this!

I don't deny what the women who felt like they were no longer oddballs or misfits, once they read Betty Friedan's book and found out they weren't alone in how vapid they felt there lives were as housewives ... I like history tremendously, and especially enjoy women's history!, but for me personally, trying to read this book is like my former husband trying to read that alternative history tome --

You have to understand my mother's childhood, which severely affected her adult choices:  she was one of six children of a pair of alcoholics.  She grew up during the Depression.  Her family was so poverty-stricken, that the children even with a living father, wound-up in an orphanage for a time (a whole other story there); I think it's probably fair to say that when they were 'home', it was the coldwater flat often referenced in those times -- where food was scarce, but vermin of every type, were not ...

To my mother, there was no more outstanding future she wanted for herself than to be a suburban wife and mother -surpassing even the tremendous skills she had in the garment district and her tailoring career, before I came along.

My mother never mentioned 'The Feminine Mystique', but - knowing my mother - she would have been baffled by it, because --

Stephanie Waseck was living the dream!!!

And so, unfortunately, I cannot continue this book, but am going to put it in a donation bag.

I realized I was a city person ... and yet --

My good friend///neighbor around here recently relocated to a senior's///disabled persons, housing development ... while I was very happy for her (less rent! very close to her daughter!), I also recognized that it is even further out in the country than where I'm living right now, and, well, sir ... back in 1995, when I moved to Maine, I had a startling realization that I really am a city girl after all!!!  Go figure!

So, last evening, said friend stopped over and took several of us out to see her new place ... the very first I realized was how updated and everything was repaired and in good working order, it was!  That's because they have real maint. staff that is on duty 24 hours a day -- unlike here!

She casually pointed out the laundry room that is on-site -- ok, I'm still not looking at a w/d hook-up ... but neither am I looking at hauling stuff downtown and being stuck there!

The rent is actually based on your income - something I found out several years back is not often done nowadays!

They allow pets.

Its ground level .... with close-to-the-door parking (just like I have here, yes -- two things that have become 'must's' for me)...

There are safety features in place, like a grab bar next to the johnny so a person wouldn't have to hoist themselves up by putting a palm on the edge of the vanity like they do now ...

There are more closets than I presently have (altho, admittedly, I still have more space in the bedroom closets where I'm presently at) ...

Jeannee, are you thinking about it?! seemed to be the question of the evening!

I think the very first thing I would need to do is to take a day and drive past this town - which I've never done - and see if the next two towns have enough services and stores for me, that I wouldn't have to haul myself to Harrisonburg all the time - which would REALLY be out of the way living THERE!!!  

And as I'm doing this, I need to ruminate on the cats (and take care of them, too)  - a whole other topic post there; suffice it to say, I'd have to consider them cats....

I don't know, now -- I'm surely! a city girl --

-- who may move out into the woods!!!

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Highland Fashionista: A (Very) Brief Ode To A Lobster

Highland Fashionista: A (Very) Brief Ode To A Lobster: I absolutely love the fashion house Tibi. Their clean, modern cuts combine beautifully with prints that make you go woo-hoo , and always wit...

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Breakup violence -- and its near the anniversary, too ....

No, no buried St. Joseph's statue in front of my apartment ....

When I was online the other day, I came across a news item about low-income housing being newly built right in my hometown, right in Edison Township, right in the area I'm so familiar with because it's South Edison, my old stomping grounds!!!

And I sighed and knew I wasn't even going to try to find out more about it ... and honestly I don't think I would have thought any further except I got an excited phone call from an old friend who still lives there - Jean, aren't you going to apply for this?!!

And so here is why I'm not -- 

My car insurance goes through the roof, and I'm literally priced out of purchasing cigarettes, if I move back to NJ -- so there are two financial reasons right there, but it's far more than that ;

In the past I've seen similar things and become so excited and so prayerful -- only to be so disappointed, to be crushed emotionally ... and - ya know???  I don't want to go through that again.  Honestly, I think I'm far too fragile.  What's crushed me???  

Again, partially financial :  the oft-told idea of low-income sometimes doesn't even go by what you actually have to live on, but what someone else decides is low-income -- which prices me out of places ... 

It's hearing about a waiting list of a minimum of five years, too ... it's encountering people in administration who don't get it that if it qualifies for senior housing, that also fits people who receive disability - and just. not. having. it. in. me. to. teach. them. what. they. should. already. know.

What I already know, is all that I've written above ... so - no - no St. Joseph's statue ....

There is even a part two or maybe a 1B about this :  right here, where I live now, a friend moved into low-income niiiiice she says housing, and Jean you should apply!  And there it's about the deal with people in administration - I just. don't. want. to. go. through. that. ... and, one more thing: here where I live now, I'm 16 miles one way from a big city - which can be arduous, more so than I realized when I moved here ... well ... this place is another 7 miles on top of that ... and I just don't want to live even further out!

In fact, I'd rather live further in, but .... yeahhh see ^

So here's my question, often asked, not often answered:

AND SO WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME?!!