The Fabricated Goddess

Question....

So, I won't beat around the bush. I'm just going to come right out and tell you. I've been approached and offered the opportunity to share certain products with my readers and give stuff away to them. I know, free stuff! I like the idea. I do. But I'm sort of on the fence about the etiquette of these things. Does this make me some sort of sellout? Or just an opportunistic so-and-so? Or does anyone even care? Maybe I'm making this a much bigger deal than it should be? As usual, I'm neurotically analyzing the crap out of what is probably a none issue. So instead of driving myself crazy, I thought, why not just ask you guys. So, tell me what you think and we'll see what happens.

Collecting...

So, um, right. I have a couple of obsessive collections going on around here.  One being vintage kitchen stuff and the other being shoes.  I have a lot of both.  Embarrassing amounts actually.  I can pass up a lot of things, vice wise, but it almost physically pains me to walk away from a great find.  And I can't even tell you what qualifies as a good find.  Just sometimes, a pair of shoes or an old casserole dish resonates with something deep in side me. 

I have issues, people, clearly.  Of this much I am aware.

So in lieu of therapy, I thought I'd share some of my favourites with you here.  It may be a recurring theme, since, well the collections are rather large.  

 

I have two of these Johnson Bros 'Daisies Won't Tell' platters hanging in my kitchen.  I love the simplicity of the colour scheme and the clean shape of them.  I love that the pattern is called 'Daisies Won't Tell'.  I mean come on, how fabulous is that?  And of course, the mark of any truly treasured piece in my collection - this pair has grown on me.  I love them more now than I did when I first got them.

And these are just fun.  Totally kill my feet to wear for anything but lounging at a cocktail party, which, granted, never happens, but worth it.  Orange leopard print open toed sling backs by Go Fresh.  Love. 

A List Of Sorts....

:: I'm still obsessed with self portraits.  I started taking them just before I started blogging 4 years ago.  I have thousands now....it's a bit embarrassing, but I just.can't.stop.

:: I'm working full time, and yet my house doesn't really look any worse for wear, which confirms earlier suspicions (ha!) that I'm not all that dedicated a housekeeper.  

:: I dreamed last night that someone offered me a job teaching art at a college level and I was ecstatic.  sigh

:: I still love words like lexicon and scintillating.  Somehow these words rarely manage to work themselves into daily conversation.  I shall make a distinct effort to correct that.

:: I'm missing my out-of-door alone time or, you know, running.  I really wish that I work part time and have the best of both worlds.   

:: Apologies that this post is lame.  If you read down this far YAY!  leave a comment and I'll enter your name in a draw for a lovely purse that has been waiting for a new owner.  I may even throw in  some other goodies I've been working on.  

Edited to add :: I'll draw a name for the purse this weekend.  I'll leave the comments open until Saturday at 10 pm my time.  And yes, Zephie, I'll gladly ship as far away as you!!

Little Relics....

I should mention that we had a lovely summer.  We spent much time at the beach and generally enjoying each others company.  I can't say I regret the lazing about.  We needed some serious down time.  A chance to regroup and reconnect and gather strength for the changes we knew were coming at us this year.  Namely, me going back to work for the first time (officially anyway) in 11 years.  I think it's been a bigger adjustment for me than anyone else.  But given my slightly neurotic nature, I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise.  

 We spent the last of our summer back in Ontario, hanging with my family, eating lovely garden grown food and drinking (oy, my liver) much wine.  And although we had a very busy time of it, it really was an excellent visit.  Which is saying a lot considering the amount of whining I did about travelling to ONTARIO to stay in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.  Seriously, it's the middle of nowhere out there.  

And slowly I started to reconnect with what that place means.  It's the closest thing to a home I've ever had.  That middle of nowhere place was the only touchtone in a chaotic world of moving so much.  And I think it's hard sometimes for me to recognize the old place because so much of it is new.  The old house is gone.  The old guy too.  The old barns.  The little shed that my Grandfather called the culleny house smelling of axel grease and junk and dust.  But little by little what was left of the old place started to emerge. The pig barn, no longer housing pigs and rapidly falling down.

Brick walkways made from what is left of the old barn after a wind storm twisted the wooden structure off it's foundation.  'The Deighton's' sign salvaged onto the fancy new shed.

 

The ring of foundation from the old silo stubbornly refusing to amalgamate into the drive that now graces the front of the new barn.  I can clearly recall opening up the spooky little door at the bottom of it and yelling up into the echoey cement tube when it was empty in the spring.  And I can hear his voice tell me to be careful. 

And I discovered that he's still there.  The traces of his life strewn about the place.   Tucked into little secret corners; lingering there.  Reminding me that I do have a tether that connects me to something larger than I am.  Reminding me that nothing in this life is ever really lost, just sometimes hidden from view, waiting patiently to be discovered again.  Reminding me that - despite my non-enthusiasm for the humidity (which was high) and the rushy rush of travelling and trying to cram everything in that we needed to - sometimes, it's okay to go home.

Movember....

Okay.  So I didn't know it, but aside from it being NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo, it's also Movember.  Never heard of Movember?  Well, me neither but as of last night (talk about your 11th hours commitment-phobes) Erin decided to join his excellent friend Neal and grow a 'stach to raise awareness for men's health.  

So if you want to support him, follow his progress or even just have a wee laugh, check out his profile.  

In other news, you remember this kid?

 

Yeah, I know, what a looker, right?  Anyway, he's 11 today.  Quarter of an inch shorter than me, larger than life personality, intense about his passions, kooky funny, smart, sometimes a very large pain in the ass, picky eater extraordinaire, with a great big heart.  Can't believe you are so big.  Oh happy day, dear boy.  I wouldn't change one thing about you.

To NaBloPoMo Or Not To....

Good Gravy!  I haven't updated this site since June.  JUNE people! That is ridiculous.  And, well, lazy.  It's not like I don't have things to say.  It's not like I don't think of updating.  It's just that I seem to always manage to talk myself out of it.  In fact, I've been tossing around the idea of shutting down this site altogether.  Maybe it's run it's course.  Maybe I've said what I needed to say.  I'm unsure of what the purpose of this blog is.  And what's more, I'm uncomfortable with the fact that I can't categorize this place.  I don't know what sort of blog I am.  I'm not a craft blog, or humour blog, or really even a parenting blog, although all those things do make guest posts here.  

But.

November is here and it's time to NaBloPoMo.  Which makes me think about giving this one.more.kick.at.the.can.

So, here's the plan.  I'm going to attempt to resurrect this old site and blog every day in November for National Blog Posting Month and I'll take it from there.  I'd like to kick start my writing again and this is as good a vehicle as any.  If anyone out there still visits this site, a hearty thank you for hanging around so long.  

See you tomorrow.  And like Max said, Let the wild rumpus start!

I Have....

Purses for sale, oh internets people!

I'm working on photos, but I am lame at working my camera.  I really need to take a course of some kind this summer and actually learn what I'm supposed to do with it.  Unlike other things I've been able to teach myself, apparently photography is a learned skill.  Who know?

Green and Pink Pistachio handbag - SOLD!

Dark Grey and Vintage Yo-Yo shoulder bag - $35

Camo and Floral Vintage Button messenger - $35

More to come!

Or, You Know....

A really great new hair-do also helps with the funk.

Little Things....

The last few weeks have been hard.  I could give you a hundred reasons why, but I won't.  Suffice it to say that one thing is certain, I had settled into my nice hidey hole of grump all this week - slowly pulling myself out, at best.  Yesterday I woke up determined to not allow the grump to last any longer.  I purposed instead to be thankful for the little things.  So, I went for a run in a misty lovely cool rain and was thankful for feeling very alive.  I went to the sauna and was thankful for sweat - yes, sweat - envisioning each drop a purging of my little gripes.  I visited a friend who is in the midst of a rather nasty bout of postpartum depression and was thankful for my own struggle with PPD - chiefly that mine is behind me but also, that I can so well remember how it felt to be in that deep dark place.  Nothing, and I do mean nothing, helps you find perspective like stark contrast.  My little grump was no match for the full-on depth and breadth of postpartum depression.  

Late afternoon brought a delicious nap and the happy surprise of folding laundry while watching a little Jane Austen that just happened to be on (James McAvoy, swoon) accompanied by a very rare thunderstorm to perfectly match my bittersweet mood.  As, I perused my freshly rained upon garden with a wee glass of wine, in the post storm sun, smelling that glorious rainy smell I found a fully intact robin's egg in my front flower bed.   Of all things! 

Exquisite.

Little things that were miraculous.  

Goodbye grump.

-10 And Counting....

I hear people say all the time (usually when I'm complaining about being cold and isn't this damned winter over yet already??) that they sure are glad to live in Canada where there are 4 seasons.   And, you know, I hear that, I do, but I'd settle for two - summer and fall.   This fourth distinct season of trapped in an icy hell is not working for me.  I want heat!  I haven't been truly warm in two months.  Of course, being house bound with 3 sick people for the last week hasn't helped improve my outlook on winter much.  I considered giving them all to the Salvation Army, but I figured they probably wouldn't accept my donation, what with all the dying and moaning they were doing.  And now the days are getting longer and my brain is playing tricks on my telling me that it should be warmer outside because the sun has been poking out intermittently the last week or so.  But guess what?  It's not.  

I'm counting down the days till the ice age winter is over.  

Under several layers of blankets.  

Obviously.

So what I'm loving today are slipper socks and a hot matcha latte from my lovely Chai Baba.

Socks that make me happy and toasty warm.   It doesn't get much better than that, people.

(And on a totally different note, I really must learn to use my camera better....every picture I take is sort of slightly out of focus.  I'll put that on the list, because that'll ensure I'll get around to it eventually.  Right?)