gaysknits

today is new clothes tuesday...

and day two of my self portrait journal. yesterday was a wooo hooo kind of a day as far as the us mail goes. i've been doing some online shopping and with yesterday's postal delivery i reaped the rewards of my shopping spree.  now i wait only for my new car charger.  i wait and hope my cell phone battery holds out while i am out and about.  i already blogged about the little black dress i fell for and then ordered online. this is the one.

 

now that i'm looking at it i don't think it is the exact one but it is close enough that i really couldn't say for certain.  i have always been a tiny person. that has come with it's own set of problems. when i was a teenager the smallest size you could buy in the junior department of any major department store was way too big for me. in self defense i sewed my own clothes and that way i had the added advantage of wearing what i wanted and what was just a bit different from anyone else.  before you moan and groan and roll your eyes and start thinking that i have some nerve and don't know the half of it when it comes to finding clothes that fit let me say...i've had this conversation before. i've had it my whole life and i do know my half of it. if you think being a high school girl with a flat chest, skinny legs, big feet and glasses and we won't even talk about the scoliosis...if you think that made my life all wonderful and rosey then...misguided is the only word i can come up with.  my skinny legs bothered me because i was such a huge fan of boots and boots to fit people with skinny legs like mine were impossible to come by.  my glasses didn't really bother me but everyone else had contact lenses.  the only one who took exception to my flat chest was my mother who insisted that i should wear falsies...that's what we used to call them back in the day...to make my clothes fit better but i refused.  i am over all of it. i like wearing glasses over contact lenses which in my mind is akin to putting a sharp stick in your eye. my feet don't seem so big to me anymore now that my legs don't look so skinny and either they have started making boots in assorted calf sizes or my legs have gained weight either way i now have more than my fair share of boots.  my flat chest is no longer as flat as it was thanks to maidenform.  any way all this being way to much background information  leads to my self portrait of the day.

   

this dress was purchased from a popular juniors clothing store. you would probably walk right past the joint if you were wandering through the mall.  it is one of those stores that has racks and racks of inexpensive no cheap clothing.  this dress looks about the same to me as the more expensive version in the misses sizes and really the fabric seems about the same to me the only difference is this one fits me better and costs me way less and i got a  coupon for free acne medication with the packing slip!  a coupon for acne medication and a senior citizens buffet breakfast all in the same day...now that's lol wothy! later...love   g

a vacation prep day...

is a valuable commodity in my line of work.  things have become so busy and hectic that until and unless you get a day to yourself, a day off the schedule, a day for processing and moving papers you stand no chance of getting caught up. you stand no chance of peace of mind. it is valuable to those of us who need to have peace of mind and to those of us who need a sense of accomplishment.  it is valuable to them too...you know who they are don't you? they want everything in place. they want all the t's crossed and i's dotted before you go so while you are gone they have no worries.  so it is and so shall be. all i ever need is one vacation prep day to clean up my desk and my statistics to get ready to go on vacation.  once i get out the office door the worm turns and it takes at least a week of days for the peace of mind to seep in and usually by the time is does you are walking back in the office door.  so it is and so it shall continue to be.  today is my vacation vacation prep day.  my day to prepare to be on vacation. 

my day to sit around and sip coffee.  my day to wear my boxer shorts as long as i want to and when the ac gets to chilly to cover up with the guys shirt. yesterday was a normal weekend day fulled with chores and my arms are feeling the consequence of wielding a weed wacker.  the guy coated the new roof of the motor home with rubber roof coat and is ready to take her to get inspected. today the most we have on our agenda is testing the brake lights and turn signals.  i was in charge if putting the brakes on and taking them off.  he was in charge of observing. i was in charge of putting the vehicle in reverse. i had to struggle to do it...it's hard to put a vehicle that size in reverse but it was not as hard as it is to reverse all the tension and stress from weeks of work and to dislodge the after effects of business dealings gone awry in just one week but i'm going to try. this is my vacation prep day and probably not much more than reversing will be done.  the sun is shining and the rain is at bay for now so it's all good. later...love   g

i missed it...

the june theme for the self portrait challenge was shoes...and i missed it.  the group which i used to faithfully and regularly participate in moved to flickr and it was not a forum i could relate to and i lost interest. at the very least i dropped the ball...quit the habit...moved on to...i moved on to nothing as far as i can tell but that us a whole other story. i have toyed around with the idea of participating again but never seem to be able to match the theme of the month with my mood.  shoes would have been a great start.  as a rule i do my fair shair of self portraits in shoes on any given day even without being told to.  i think i may have even participated in the invention of the concept.  ah well. next month may be my month. or not.  in the mean time lots of folks do self portraits as a daily, weekly or monthy ritual. i find them sort of interesting and so until i get some knitting mojo back and since i am lacking in any real focus on the blog and in my life...self portraits it is...daily??? hmm i can try but honestly don't know if i can maintain that.

 

along the way these may lead to some exploration of other topics.  like celebrity. this morning i had a long conversation via email with a blogging friend about the topic as it relates to knitting.  i can't say it was a conversation...it was more like  pontification on my part.  celebrity relates to everything and the bigger you are the more attention you get.  attention and celebrity are not necessarily indicators of talent and artistic ability nor are they a predictor of an interesting person but it is what it is and in this day as in days gone by celebrity is what it is all about.  when i think of celebrity i think of andy warhol. he has come to my mind several times in the past weeks. the first time was at the moms house.  the guy and i went for dinner a few weeks back and the subject moved to art. the mom is a watercolor artist and in her old age she has become quite prolific. prolific is not necessarily a good thing either but that as i have said often and quite a few times just today is another subject for another day.  perhaps even tomorrow.  her husband is her greatest fan and her biggest critic and he is very opinionated about most everything and somehow we got on the subject of andy warhol.  i brought it up if the truth be told but it was said in that room on that night that he was a no talent nobody who painted a picture of a soup can which was no damn good anyway and his portraits of jackie o were...well i won't bore you or piss you off with the rest of the conversation which i can hardly remember anyway.  i am a fan of andy warhol and i am fascinated by him...once again another story...so i defended him with every argument i could come up with and put a stop the the andy bashing that was going on. last night the guy and i went out for a motorcycle ride and a bite to eat and a beer and we stopped at the book store after to look for knitting and boating mags.  a young pretty self confident girl walked in and picked out a copy of interview magazine. she nonchalontly adjusted her kelly green sweater, turned on her heel and walked out with her geometric yellow bob swinging back and forth.  she was just sooooo andy warhol in attitude that i had to stare. celebrity starts in school doesn't it?  i was gonna say high school then i was gonna say junior high but these days i think it starts in day care...god...andy warhol would be so proud.  he celebrated celebrity.  he created celebritites. he was maybe the biggest celebrity. i do not intend to debate his talent with anyone. it is a personal opinion as far as i am concerned  but certainly no one can argue that he was a celebrity and those who are celebrities are rewarded thats for certain. it is fitting that i start my journal of self portraits with discussion about andy warhol. he was fond of the self portrait himself and...i think i look like him!!!   later...love   g

damn crows...

stop eating my tomato plants!  i am not the most avid gardener i know. i am not a gardener who pays any attention to her garden. i try to weed but usually i fail miserably at the task.  this year the tomato plants keep getting sherared off at the top. this has mystified me. is the mean rotten neighbor trying to play a prank?  are the rabbits suddenly more interested in exercising their hind quarters and standing up on  their back legs to munch and snack and nom? are the ground hogs  walking upright now? someone told me it was crows. i have no evidence of this. to be sure they  wouldn't do that in front of me.  they are way more sneaky than that and besides that i love crows. they are a bird with some personality and character and they are smart and i love them and do not find them annoying in anyway except that they are eating my tomato plants the damn crows.

i picked these three lonely cherry tomatoes that are so yummy and delicious and i fear i may only get these three of them...and the one i ate already...that makes four.  i have lettuce and these three tomatoes and i am making a salad for lunch tomorrow with a store bought cuke because i would have cukes but my plant died before it made it into the gorund and besides it is way to early for cukes.  i do have  yellow squash and brocoli and the green beans are just around the corner.  oh it's soooo good isn't it? just so you don't think i'm a health nut or anything i went to the local discount aldi grocery storeand i bought a box of frozen mini eclairs.  they are no longer frozen and they are soooo good and i have a whole box of them...i swear there are like 50 of them in there....i think i'm gonna be sick!  later...love   g 

i got to thinking about...

color.  the other day i read a post written by the lovely and talented michele and of course there was another wonderful post written by another  one of the lovely and talented kat and color was the theme in both.  it got me thinking about color. i should say it got me noticing color.  i've been going neutral lately. back to black as well. i love the look of black with my hair.  i've been obsessed these days with a little black dress, i've had quite a few in my day but i stumbled upon one the other day and fell in love with it. it fit like a dream and was cheap cheap cheap and cute as hell.  i didn't buy it and couldn't get it out of my mind and of course as luck would have it when i went back to the store to get it...it was long gone. drat!  that dress it got under my skin and i had to have it. i looked for another like it and was dissappointed  over and over again, so today i called every store in the area and they were all out of the dress. i went online and found the very dress and ordered it up!  a little black dress with cap sleeves a peasant type neckline an empire waist and an a line skirt...it screams juliet and it will look as great with a pair of $1.00 flips flops as it will with my new gladiator sandals!

i happened upon these the other day too and decided it's been too long since i've bought a pair of pretty shoes with no real purpose or utility in mind.  i mostly wear functional and comfortable shoes but these are just so... well see for yourself...huh?

 

would i lie to you?  i am in love with these and think they will be great with my little black dress.  i must confess that while i was at it i bought two dresses and got $10.00 off with an online coupon.  the other is a navy empire waist dress with a elbow length sleeve and a ruffle at the elbow.  a navy dress and the tan boots with a wedge heel i bought at the end of the season...i can picture it on a perfect spring to fall day. because i wear jeans pretty much exclusively in fall and winter i've been in the mood for dresses lately probably because i have so few of them. i am a skirt and top gal.  not that navy or black have anything at all to do with color. not that my tan boots or my tan shoes do either.  as i said i'm going neutral these days but i think i may buy a big red purse.  i like a red purse and it's been too long since i've had one but seriously every time i find a purse i like it is...tan.  maybe my hot pink toenail polish fills the bill for color in my life or maybe i need a nice red lipstick too.  today i tried on a green sundress. green with a full flowing skirt and a cord for a belt and embroidery on the straps and the bodice and pockets...kelly green. leprachaun green.  it was bright and colorful and let me tell you it was gorgeous!  i left it at the store but if it gets under my skin i'll go back for it!  i have a week of vacation coming up and nothing to do but what ever i want.  i hope to start and finish my muslin top and maybe do some swimming and boating and motorcycle riding and gardening or maybe i'll knit a red top!  later...love   g