Where ever you may find a pink chicken mystery, I will be there. And I will be ALL ABOUT IT. Happy Saturday
Pink Chicken Mystery
bracelet
Unkillable
Sunday is The Walking Dead finale and an article on io9 which may be a spoiler maybe not, so click with caution, has me thinking on one of my favorite TWD topics. Who is unkillable? And why?
The unkillable fall into two categories: unkillable because they are so badass and unkillable because the show would fall apart. At least that’s how I break it down. So who fits where?
Daryl, Judith, Carl, and Rick fall into the unkillable because the show would fall apart category.
Daryl, Rick (?Maybe?), Michonne, and Carol fall into the unkillable because they are so badass at survival. But this show is nothing if not brutal to even the best survivors, the biggest badassses.
So what do you guys think? Who is unkillable on The Walking Dead? And who is getting chopped on Sunday? Anybody else now have “Unloveable” by the Smith’s stuck in their head?
Big News!!
It’s been a very exciting couple of days. I was waiting to post about this because my mom made me paranoid. BUT. SO. I found a little clip iPod on the street. Yay!
BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY I peed on a stick and a big + appeared!!! Technically first I had my blood drawn and a nurse phoned me to tell me the good news. Then I spent the morning sobbing with happiness. Then my honey ran out and bought a stick for me to pee on so we could have that experience. Then there was significantly more joy-crying. Oh my god, I’m crying again.
You don’t even know what this means to me. It’s been a really shitty year and a half where life reminded me over and over that everything can always get worse. “You thinks infertility sucks? And that your grandmother’s health scare was bad? Well let’s see how you handle your dad’s unexpected death, Margaret.”
It really felt like I couldn’t have anything. I still can’t believe that this, the third and final IVF round, worked. Oh shit. I’m crying again. Fortunately I had for sight enough to confirm with my doctor that crying will not harm the fetus.
I just feel so so so very lucky right now. This mini iPod is going to be so useful.
Safety Dance
One of the long lasting downsides of being run over by a truck is that I’m not great in traffic. I’m an easily scared passenger, nervous driver, completely non-bicycler, jumpy pedestrian. So mostly I stick to the sidewalk. Fortunately work is just a mile away so it’s pretty easy to live life as a pedestrian.
It’s dark now when I close shop. I think about my visibility all the time. I wear a lot of white jackets and white pants. I’m very focused walking, I look into the eyes of drivers when I cross in front of them, I never take out my phone, I don’t listen to music.
But still people are reckless, dangerous in their driving, bicycling, even as they run/walk by me.
People will risk their lives to save 5 seconds of time. Every night I see some dumbass running against the light on a big busy street dressed entirely in black. Moms looking at their cell phones as they push the stroller out into an intersection, not checking to confirm a car is turning. Taxis trying to squeeze thru on a yellow that has already turned red. Bicyclists without helmets, without lights, in the dark, splitting lanes. Everyone is at fault. Everyone thinks they are in the right. I can go on forever on this topic.
Another long term downside of being hit by a truck? Rage. I have a lot of rage. Especially towards these morons I watch breaking the traffic rules, making foolish and unsafe choices. This post is already priming me to Hulk out.
But so I focus on myself, on making my movement through this world safer and that includes my new light up bracelet. For my walk home in the dark. My doggies have their lightup collars, and I now have a lightup bracelet I got for $.20 at Goodwill. Besides my ivory bangle, this is my best Goodwill find yet.
Too Obscene
The other day Nad of HugsXHearts asked me exactly how many bracelets I have. I jokingly answered “ONE MILLION!” But then I started thinking about it. I might actually have one million bracelets. It’s more than a bit obscene. See the pic above? That’s them. About a million seems right, right? Anyway the thing with my collection is most all are gifts (one exception being the albatross ivory bangle). Each has a story and special significance. Most are from my dad and with his death I find even cooking the pasta from his pantry breaks my heart. I am foolishly sentimental with everything so I could never give away or sell any of my collection.
“But Margaret,” you might be saying, “I have definitely seen bracelets on your wrist that are not in that lot of one million bracelets.”
Well, you would be right. When I buy myself a bracelet (most always second hand) it is with the knowledge that I am the temporary guardian of it. It’s the capitalist in me, I suppose. I buy books with the intent to sell them back to the second hand store. Ditto clothing. Ditto jewelry. The great thing with owning a store, I can sell these items more easily than most people.
Also with a collection it somehow feels like cheating to just go out and buy an item. That makes it too easy. I have maybe 3 Hermes bangles that I bought for myself. Those 3 leave me with an empty feeling because there is no story to them.
Do you have a collection? What does it mean to you? How do you go about adding to it? I know Nad’s got some rings galore.
12.17.14 hair brained schemes
This time of year whenever something goes missing I assume my honey took it for gift giving reasons. Like he needs to know the size of my shoe, or brand of makeup, or to engrave something for me. I believe this despite the fact that a. he has never done this before and b. the item missing may be a hairbrush. What could he possibly use my hairbrush for in gift giving terms? Hairbrush upgrade? I don’t think so. So the brutal truth is, I’ve lost my hairbrush. Which explains my hair today.
Various emotional states call for special grooming rituals. If I’m extremely tired I paint on ridiculous levels of makeup. If feeling insecure? I wear A LOT of jewelry. Granted, I tend to wear a lot of jewelry for other reasons too, so you’ll never know if I’m feeling insecure or in a magpie mood.
(Ack! My skin! *adds a face veil*)
“Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory.” Clearly I do not abide my Coco Chanel’s policy. I suspect I have the entire female population of Texas on my side for this one.
Today’s jewelry: Left hand: two Indian rhinestone bangles from my best friend, red Clic Clac a Pois, Tiffany’s braid from my dad, Goodwill rhinestone bow.
Right hand: Jawbone UP, my dad’s Baume & Mercier watch
Necklaces: Tiffany’s candy cane charm, I’m Your Present bow tie
Earrings: red gifts I’ve had since about 4th grade
Anybody seen my hairbrush?
12.16.14 all quiet on the Western front
The rain cloud bursts and business stops. STOPS. In case people have forgotten, today is Hanukkah and there’s only 8 shopping days until Christmas. Why then, when I am in retail, is there a moment of peace and quiet? And yet, it’s kind of nice…
The thing with retail and the holidays, for those who have never worked retail, is that a mania takes hold of your body and possesses you. I feel constantly wired/on during December. Completely manic. I wish I had thought to tally all the “hi there” that I say in a single working day. “Hi there, yes yes,” crazy lady laugh “you finding everything all right?” That’s me. I drink more during the holidays for no reason but to unravel at the end of the work day.
Bet you guys are wondering what’s going on with my uterus, aren’t you??? Oh, you’re not? Well nothing is going on. No hormones or anything right now for which I am super thankful. Can you imagine retail mania + hormone hysteria? What an awful combo. Going forward now I will be starting another round of IVF in January and we have a follow up appointment with the adoption agency. My vote is adoption, my honey’s is IVF. I’ll take whichever way gives us a potato sized human being. Large potato, I guess, or Butternut Squash sized.
Are any of you, my readers, adopted or have adopted a child? Any of you from mixed race families, as in parents are one race and kids are another? Do you have any insight about your experience you’d be comfortable sharing? I’d love to know so many things.
So today’s bangles are: a trio of rhinestone Goodwill bangles, and my Elsa Peretti X from my dad.
Me Me Me ME!
#16 VERY GIFTED : GIFT IDEAS
The Grand Finale
Gift ideas for:
*my doppelganger
Something that I’ve realized lately, thru the world of WordPress, is that we all have very unique tastes. Duh, you all say. I CAN HEAR YOU!!! So shhhhh. Stop drinking that hot toddy, Margaret, you add. And I make a lip zipping motion in reply. I think I’m catching a cold you guys! Which is not acceptable. First of all, I don’t get sick. Second of all, I have nothing but work here on out until that fat guy wiggles down all of your chimneys. So I can’t afford to be sick. Like literally. If I want to pay my mortgage I cannot be sick this XMas season.
BACK ON TOPIC! Unique tastes abound. It’s fascinating. I feel like I’m peeping into your lives and learning about the world. (Too much hot toddy yet?)
Uhhhhhh what?
This is my last Christmas gift idea list, you all are special snowflakes, but we have some crossover interests folks. So this is the gift list for my doppelganger slash the crossover interests with you all.
What are our crossover interests? You and me in our special relationship called WordPress? Crafts. Pop Culture. Fashion. IVF. Poetry. Art. Humor. And the Walking Dead. Sounds about right, right? Oh wait. Let’s add in cute animals.
So first gift idea of the night, in reverse order. CUTE ANIMALS. For all you who love cute animals. You know, I am almost buzzed enough to write all y’all. I’m so ashamed.
Do you guys even realize how cute baby rhinos are? It’s ridonkulous. After watching Nat Geo for three hours, I totally want this rhino ring.
Now the Walking Dead? I’ve got to nod to my favs Sup Darling, Dora da bomb (oh yeah I AM that 90s), and Susan tho all these ladies also cross into the pop culture list.
Nobody does skulls like Steve McQueen.
How do you figure out humor in jewelry? Should I be looking for a punch line charm? Want to hear (or read) the joke I wrote the other day? What do you call it when Emilia snow plows the street? A Toes Drift. You would be cracking up like crazy if you knew who Emilia is.
All I know is you search “joke” on Luis Via Roma and you find this necklace. HA HA HA. This necklace is so funny, amirite?
For the art and poetry themes and some of the best reading ever I am channeling Andre, Susan Elizabeth, and Spanish Woods all who have themes of surroundings and environment running thru their works.
I don’t know, but these seedlings by Anita Van Doorn seem relevent.
Oh, where was I? Fashion, IVF, pop culture? Isn’t that the definition of ‘jewelry’? Sometimes I feel deep. Like super deep. What is the meaning of fashion, IVF, pop culture? I think we can hit that trifecta with a little Aliens jewelry.
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BOOM! Aliens embryo necklace DOOD. I wish it were Predator embryo. I like Predator so much more than Aliens.
I don’t even know what is left in my themes. It’s late. The gift ideas have fled. I sit here at my WordPress Dashboard drinking my toddy and not watching Californication. I’d like to wish you a happy holiday and for you to know how much I have enjoyed reading everybody’s writings. All y’all are fascinating. And I have appreciated the various comments and likes on my silly little blog these past couple of months. You don’t even know how much it has meant to me. BIG SLOPPY REINDEER KISSES FROM ME TO YOU!
xoxoxox Margaret
Oh and it’s not tooo late to buy something from my real life store, Bath Sense.
Unisexy
#7 VERY GIFTED: GIFT IDEAS
Gift ideas for:
*the Athletes
*the Runner/Walker
*the Cyclist
*the Swimmer
Do you know the one piece of jewelry that I wear every single day? My Jawbone UP, a wearable fitness tracker that syncs with my iPad. I only take it off when I shower or when it needs to be replaced. As I’ve mentioned before I love my UP. It calculates my daily mileage, steps, food, water consumption, sleep. It looks stylish with some fun color options, and the app is a really good workout motivator. I definitely recommend the Jawbone UP for any runner or walker in your family. The one down side with the UP is it’s propensity to fizzle out, fortunately they have a warranty that covers up to a year after purchase.
But the UP isn’t the only fitness tracker on the market!
The Fitbit is probably the most popular of the wearable sports tech. I don’t have a first hand experience with it, but my mom does. Hers has never needed replacing (unlike my Jawbone UP ahem… 3 times). The new one acts like the UP but has a built in heart rate monitor, which is a good tool to use to gauge intensity of a workout. Oh! And it has a watch function, which explains why this puppy looks so much like a watch. And it includes a heart rate monitor, which is important for cyclists. It’s slightly pricier than the UP, but I think you get significantly more for your dollar. I just wish the app was as great as the UP app.
The Pebble is one of the few waterproof fitness trackers, which makes it best for any swimmers out there. There’s even a beta swim app called Swimio for Pebble users. Price wise it falls in at the lower end of the wearable tech cost range. Anybody have a pebble and love it? I’d like to know how it’s received.
The daily disclaimer: I would be remiss if I didn’t offer the link to my online store… I write these posts for my love of jewelry and gift giving, there’s no sponsors here but ME for MYSELF 😀
11.19.14 silver sleuth
Last night at dinner my mom gave me this bracelet 👆 that I am wearing today. It was black with tarnish and she was uncertain if it was from her mom, or from my namesake, my mom’s Aunt Margaret. I am basically Nancy Drew when it comes to the internet sleuthing, and I successfully Nancy Drewed the isht out of this puppy.
First, I polished this up, then I started my research. Through my googling skills I quickly found some very similar pieces listed on eBay and Etsy. These were variously listed as vintage Mexican or Aztec of Mayan. But, from what I’ve seen, Taxco (Mexico’s main silver city) stamps their silver Taxco. This bracelet has no such stamp. Nor does it sport the standard, legally required 925 that indicates a piece is Sterling. But all of this could maybe be explained due to the age of my new bracelet.
However, internet sleuthing was not yet complete! There is a stamp, it’s simply one I hadn’t seen before. 0.900…. Again to the google where I learned this is a South American manner of stamping silver.
Mystery solved! Between my Grandmother (Brazilian) and my Great Aunt (American) this bracelet was most likely my Grandmother’s. So from one Brazilian to another, thank you Grandmother! And thank you Google.
Very Bangled 