* It's 4 days until Halloween and I haven't done a thing except buy 2 magazines and some coasters. I used to love Halloween, love to decorate and dress up, love to talk about it. I still think it's pretty, but I've only been to Target once. This year I just don't care - actually, the past few years, each year I've cared less and less.
Haven't been scanning any book covers either. It all seems pointless, just clutter.

I'm off to watch Supernatural.

It's feast or famine when it comes to paperbacks. In the past month I've acquired a lovely bunch of books - Ellery Queen, Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner - with titles like "Home Sweet Homicide" and "While Murder Waits."
Keep checking my Flickr for fabulous painted covers!

* Panic stations! 
Due to Flickr's recent change, people are talking about leaving. One of my favourite contacts has already quit, and erased all of his photos. 
I am frantically going through my Favourite photos and saving the ones I want to keep forever (especially embroidery patterns).
People are moving to ipernity, which looks exactly like Flickr used to.

If you have a Flickr account, best be making back-ups.

okay, okay ...

* My new "having a bad day" video:



the poom kills me.

for the ladies

* More fun ads, this time for the ladies:

From Weekend Picture Magazine, December 1952

No price, not tons of words, just a picture that says "when a fella stares at the back of your head, you won't lose your cool."

From Screen Stories, October 1966

 The most demure Frederick's ad I have EVER seen.

From Teen magazine, August 1977

Taken from Teen magazine, which was aimed at "preteen and early teenage girls, 10 to 15."
Selling a shirt with "Caress" written in large letters on the boob to 10-year-olds. And here I thought Victoria's Secret and Juicy were responsible for putting words in inappropriate places on growing girls' bodies.

* Later gator.

hammocks and hats

Continuing our look at McCall's Needlework & Crafts, let's see some ads!
Most of the ads within the editorial pages are for what you'd expect: yarn, embroidery kits, knitting needles, etc. But the back of the magazine is loaded with tiny yet amazing ads -

Spring-Summer 1965

 What could be safer than a baby in a hammock over the back seat of your car? "For babies 1 day to 4 years" - eek!

Spring-Summer 1962

So it's a giant paint-by-numbers kit for your entire wall. And some murals available in black light! My favourite part is the floating hep cat head with the beret and goatee :)

Fall-Winter 1955-56

I just love her guitar-playin' outfit - a big hat, swimsuit, high heels and opera gloves. Sign me up!

Speaking of hats, 

Spring-Summer 1961

Internationally famous hat designer! Kits available in shocking pink! Elmer's Glue-All included! I'd love to get my hands on one of those kits.

that's all for today!

p.s. I think I'm going to redesign this thing, maybe change the colours too :)

ask and ye shall receive

* Last post? When I made a comment that at least the bone necklace wasn't in focus and in colour? I SPOKE TOO SOON ...

from McCall's Needlework & Crafts, Fall-Winter 1965-66

"Beads and turkey bones for a cowpuncher necklace. Trim the bone segments with fake pearls, string with wooden beads. Links of orange seed beads, gold beads."

From the same issue that brought you ski masks of doooooom!

* Stay tuned as I finally scan my way through one several stacks of vintage magazines.

Just for Fun

* My next craft project ...

from McCall's Needlework and Crafts, Spring-Summer 1961

I'm not even gonna show you the beautiful butterfly pins made from shrimp shells :P

whatever whatever

* So I've increased the amount of salt in my diet per my doctor's instructions. I saw him again this past Thursday because I wasn't feeling any better. My blood pressure was back up, which is good. He told me to keep eating more salt.

I told him that before last week, my diet hadn't changed at all since I moved here and I hadn't been on a low-salt diet - he said to eat more salt. I asked, if my blood pressure was back to normal, could low salt be causing the dizziness and tiredness still, and he said it's too soon to tell and to eat more salt. :P

I'm to see him again in a month.

I did feel better yesterday, lasted the whole day at work even. 

* I can use a sewing machine! The class made, and ... I was the only one there, so it was one-on-one instruction ;) Using a sewing machine isn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. For one thing, you don't have to push the material through, the machine automatically pulls it and all you do is steer! I used the straight stitch and the zigazg, and made an adorable bunny-covered tote bag!  I can't wait to make more stuff :)

* I'm doing fairly good on my resolution to butt out, but it's hard to eat better when you have to eat more salt. C'mon, what's healthy and salty?

* There's a beautiful sunset out there.

personal reflection

* Just saw this on a forum I read, and am putting it here for my own personal reflection:

"Everyone has a pain thermometer that goes from zero to ten. No one will make a change until they reach ten. Nine won't do it. At nine you are still afraid. Only ten will move you, and when you're there, you'll know. No one can make that decision for you."

- Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat by Vicki Myron

wheee

* So, cause of dizziness and tiredness was low blood pressure. Cause of low blood pressure is not enough sodium. Solution is to eat more salt.
bleah. I don't usually put salt on foods, except popcorn and corn on the cob. Don't know how I'll stand the taste of more salt.

Won't be at work tomorrow due to dizziness.

* The sewing class is on! Picking out fabric tomorrow or Saturday.

* Cat is on desk - gotta go!

:growl:

* I'm sick. again. With new and exciting symptoms! Including sudden bursts of lightheadedness/dizziness, like I just got off Mission: Space (green, not orange), even when I'm sitting down! bleah, no fun. And also regular sore throat/gravely voice, not so much the sniffing yet. And I have to work tomorrow.

* Yes indeedy, I finally got a job. I'm not gonna talk about it on here for several reasons - let's just say it's an office job and I'm very grateful to have it.

* I'm planning my embroidery projects - some napkins with designs from a book my mil brought back from Hawaii, and maybe kitchen towels with a delightful French chef.
The sewing class I was so excited about might not make :( because right now I'm the only one signed up. oh well, maybe next time.

* Found some great memory/storage boxes on sale at Michael's, with an antique octopus on the front!

* We bought a new tv for Christmas - 42", which seemed insane. But everything is soooo pretty! Even old stuff like Perry Mason! Now we just have to get the proper cables to hook up the PS2 and the Wii.

* Haven't baked anything yet this year, but I did make thumbprint cookies for NYE, so that's close.  

* I wanna embroider some of these guys:
Cloudy from FriendsWithYou on Vimeo.

deja vu

* I'm making resolutions. Some of these may sound familiar.

1.) Figure out how to get the text size back to normal on this blog. Way back when I monkeyed with the HTML, and now I don't remember enough to find the problem (I have to manually change every paragraph, boo).

2.)  Embroider more. I have stacks of patterns, fabric, thread ... get to it! I will be taking a sewing workshop (yay!) this month, so I'm looking forward to making some simple items to stitch on.

3.) Bake more. I received 2 (new) cookbooks in 2012, I need to put them to use. Not to mention all the vintage ones! 

4.) Scan that big-ass stack of vintage home magazines! 

5.) Spend less time on Cityville. 'Nuff said. 

6.) The most important:   

I cannot change other people. 
I cannot "fix" other people's problems.
I will not worry about how other people are living their lives.
I will NOT offer advice without being asked.
No more bein' nosy!  


aaand that's a happy, up way to end this comeback post.
 

*As my new dude Neil deGrasse Tyson says, "The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation." I'm a huge believer in the power of the individual to make choices, and I think that many people don't realize how much power they really have.