Of Cars and Coffee Filters

I have serious awe for the gift of design; this would be why my two favorite reality television shows are So You Think You Can Dance and Project Runway. I love them, I love them, I love them.

I took a few photos while watching the latest episode to document my delight!

Garage Sale Babes

We are still learning how to take pictures of ourselves....my arm moved. Today was garage sale day, in honor of raising money for our annual winter Ya Ya beach trip.





Snack Time....sweet mint-pesto brownies made by Cindy, they were a surprise to my taste buds as the following photos declare.

Me thinks they taste weird.

Cindy wearing Yvonne's Grandmothers antique apron/bonnet.

Can someone please count the loot?

It was a historic day, junk=cash! The Ya Yas and I decided to pool our junk and see what kind of cash we could generate. It was a pleasant day of people watching and girlfriend chatting, lightly sprinkled with good food and warm, strong, coffee. I do enjoy watching what people are hunting for, what people buy and what people are willing to chat with strangers about as they shop for trinkets.

My favorite customer was Jo-Bob, a 10 year old neighbor boy who had 9 dollars to spend and spent 1.5 hours to do so....one item at a time. He would pay for an item, put it in his bag and then go shop for the next item he wanted. He painstakingly put effort and heart into every item consideration and final choice. His finale selection was a doll for his sister that was priced 3 dollars higher than than the 2 dollars he had left in his hand. How could I resist such a purchase?....I let the price lower to his budget.

After my fellow garage sale buddies left I spent several hours with my trusty DVR viewing the other historic events of the day along with the Project Runway episode I have been saving. Oh my gosh...that show needs to be my next blog topic...it Rocks!

I Feel So Informed

Sitting at my dining room table, enjoying my Sunday after church brunch of toasted/buttered Squirrely Bread with coffee and skimming the sections of our local Kitsap Sun newspaper trying to decide which section to read first.

Hummmm, do I want to read the ads? Better not...that will tempt me to spend money I am trying to save. Well then...how bout the wedding announcement page? Nah, I want to save that section till last…I just love the wedding announcements.

Aha! I spot it, right on the front page of Section C...“Kidney Stones Linked to Global Warming”.

Laughter eruption….my toast and coffee choking up my throat!!!!

Even though I am tempted, I am not going there…not going to spew about how much I tire of the victim minded bull c*** associated with our culture’s global warming OCD.

I decide instead to Google "____linked to global warming” where I find a few other hysterical associations you should all be aware of.
1. The Hollywood sign is melting thanks to global warming.
2. Dandruff causes global warming.

This new "information" may keep me laughing all week!!!

Word Search

I LOVE words…they are little miracles; they enable my world to be enlarged or shrunk, depending on my wishes. Words inspire me, heal me, make me laugh and cast lines toward the relationships in my life.

Some words I over use….the word love for instance. I love to use the word love, say the word love, and write the word love. It is believed that this overuse minimizes the value of a word, not so for me. I find the word love to be the most useful word in the English language. I use it frequently because I feel it frequently, perhaps in differing degrees but feel it none the less.

Some words are freeing, some are entrapping, and some bring understanding while others create wide divisions of misunderstanding.

I have currently been in search of a word to describe the shift that occurred in what those close to me know as my Ya Yas. My Ya Yas are four women whom are not related to me by blood or marriage, but who are solely that wonderful gift of a word….girlfriends.
We named ourselves the Ya Yas in honor of the Devine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood book. The five of us read this book one summer in early 2000’s.

It would be impossible to precisely describe the depth to which these women have impacted my life, how they have inspired me and humbled me. They have blissfully enriched me with wit and humor. They have served, carried, mentored, prayed, studied, sobbed, cried and even fought for me. When I have walked through my darkest hours and danced through my highest joys, they have been there with me every step of the way….until the day (after 14 years of friendship) one of them walked away. What does one call this kind of transformation? Change?...not full enough. Empty?...not honest enough. Crap?...not deep enough. Yavorced?....yes!, that is precisely the word I am looking for…the word needed for my heart to define the great loss, the word needed to bring clarity to oceans of muddy goop that feels so confusing and easily avoidable.

Yavorced: a verb…..synonym for goodbye.

What I would say if you were here....

You are strong and gifted! You can do anything you set
your mind too. Do not let any of your foul choices or anyone
elses ever tear your sisterhood apart. Stand for truth and be
brave enough to forgive....and would you please come up
for pizza and ice cream real soon. I miss you BOTH!

Happy Trails Margaret

Today our temporary house guest loaded her car and headed south for the next leg of her adventures.
Margaret, it was a delight getting to know you!