Absolutely Darling 3 Graces Cameo Ring

I had to force myself to sell this ring.  It came from an estate sale some years ago, and I would wear it constantly and never let it go, but it’s one size too small.

Cameos, for those who don’t know, must NEVER be sized, and reputable jewelers won’t do it.  The metal heating process burns the shell, weakens it, and causes both damage to the color and the carving—most cameos you see with awful cracks were abused this way.

So I have to let this absolutely DARLING 3 Graces ring with scalloped marcasite edging go to a home where it can be worn.  It’s a size 7, sterling silver, and dates from the late 1800s. 

Starting at a bargain price of $30.00 on ebay.  Bid here:

EBAY LISTING CAMEO RING

Candy Consumption: Yer Doin' It Wrong

I recently began working my way through a short story I'll be publishing for Valentine's Day. One of the quirky little habits I gave to a main character comes straight out of my life. It's actually my own... only I don't consider it a quirky habit. I consider it normal. The rest of you are really getting it wrong.

The whole subject actually arose when Ahmed went on a campaign to get me to eat this past week. I will resist the urge to elaborate. But he got so annoying about it that I took his "I don't give a damn what you eat, as long as you eat" declaration and ran with it. Because, frankly, I never pass on an opportunity to aggravate my man. And NOTHING aggravates my man more than watching me eat candy.

Oh yeah... it gets ugly. I can get him to go from zero to spaz in about 10 seconds.

I start with a KitKat, which is a personal favorite. KitKats must be consumed in a very specific methodology. I break the bar into the pre-carved segments: four bars. I then turn the individual sub-bars on their side like an ear of corn on the cob, and using my front teeth, pry the TOP (narrowest) layer of chocolate-cookie-wafer goodness from the others in a solid sheet. I eat that layer. I then move on to the next layer, finishing with the widest (bottom), and lick the crumbs and chocolate from my fingers. I pause for a minimum of one minute before moving on to the next KitKat log.

At this point my man unit is pretending to ignore this, but he is exhibiting a telltale pursing of the lips as he peruses his newspaper/tv show/book. I am not fooled. By the time I get halfway through the second log he will have a rhythmic muscle tic in his jaw. He will explode in hysteria by the time I get to log 3.

Should the drug store be having a sale on M&M's I can absolutely ensure a full-on explosion. The Peanut M&M is my finest medium. I work so much better in color. Color, of course, is the key to consumption of my much beloved nuggets. One never, never, NEVER eats M&M's without sorting them. Never. Stay with me, I'll walk you through it.

I like to put the entire bag into a bowl so that sorting is simpler, but you can do this by individual handful if you must.

We divide by color, in order of preference. My own are: blue, green, yellow, red, orange, brown. (This, understand, is the standard bag, not the festive holiday colors or other special editions.) I eat all of one color, then all of the next, et cetera. If I am taking individual handfuls from a bag rather than working with a bowl, I sort each grab. Any color pairings with fewer than two of one color are returned to the bag for another grab. There must be a minimum of two in any given color.

I eat the Peanut M&M by first biting the exterior candy and chocolate shell from the nut, setting the nut aside, and eating all the nuts rendered from that color grouping before moving on to the next. Any M&M's broken during the process are consumed quickly to hide evidence of failure in the process.

I rarely finish the first color grouping before Ahmed's temple begins to show a throbbing tic that causes one eye to spasm intermittently. This is usually followed by a rictus grin that looks, quite honestly, bit painful.

So you know... as long as I'm eating SOMETHING. The outbursts and facial tremors are just a bonus.

And don't talk to me about alternative methods. Yer doin' it wrong.

I Love That He’s A Big, Strong Man…

 

But what did the toast doooooooo??????

Dirt Cheap Sony Ereader

Ahmed and I have gone through just about every kind of ebook reader you can think of. We have settled on a Nook for him, and a Kindle 3G Wifi for me. (He would love a Kindle but has big hands and needs touch-screen technology to keep from cursing a lot.)

So my old, trusty Sony PRS 505 is for sale on ebay. I plugged and charged it yesterday… it boots and works, but does not seem to be holding a charge. A quick search on ebay shows replacement batteries starting at 10 bucks, and this reader in mint condition for 100 and up.

Bidding starts at only 30 bucks, so if you grab a 10 dollar battery and snatch it up you’re getting one heck of a deal!

Bid here: SONY AUCTION

2011—My First Outing

So the year is pretty new, and I had my first official outing of 2011 this afternoon.  I suppose it was a bit of a mixed bag of an experience, but that’s cool.  I can’t help but feel pretty hopeful looking at the stretch of the coming year, so I’m simply deciding to respond positively.

Besides, I enjoyed New Year’s Eve and Day.  Once upon a time I loved doing First Night in Boston, but the cold (though this year was unseasonably warm) and wet aren’t good for me, and frankly… I’m getting too old for it.  Ahmed took me to Milton to visit our besties and their brand new baby, Tanner Michael Flannagan.  With a name like that he’ll either be mayor of Boston or Quarterback for BC… it’s more of less inevitable.  He’s adorable.  We scooted over to Newton and spent the rest of the night with the Delstrego family, also besties, and much-beloved.  An evening of lively conversation, great food and wine, and laughter was just the ticket.  New Year’s Day was quiet, with the Rose Bowl parade on tv, great new  novels on the Kindle and Nook, and warm blankets tucked around us and the dogs.  Heavenly!

What better way to kick off a new 365.  I was very sick at the end of last year… and took advantage of the past week, during which I was off all my medical treatments and feeling unusually well.  We squeaked in as much US-time as we could while it lasted, and it rebooted me.

This morning I woke up determined to tackle 2011 with a positive spirit, renewed energy, and hope in my heart.  I rambled off to Target, having found on the web that the Kingston branch had Season 3 of Bones in store for 10 bucks.  Ok, I prefer the Hanover store, but what the heck.  Only when I got there none of the three promised copies could be found and customer service had no ideas.  In 2010 this might have brought on a spate of sarcasm.  But no!  Not in my shiny, new, hopeful 2011.  I smiled, didn’t yell, and bought Seasons 1 & 2 of Angel for the bargain price of 20 bucks… settling for a younger David Boreanaz with occasional vampage.  Why not?  I can always get the Bones DVD later. 

Still cheerful, I trotted off to the Help Desk to pick up a rain-check on my DVD.  A mother and young daughter were near me in line, loaded down with bridal magazines and ready to register.  The bride-to-be was no more than 25 and mom was railroading her a bit.  When mommy-dearest spotted my ring she gushed, but unfortunately used the opportunity to criticize her daughter’s simple, elegant solitaire.  While mommy was yelling at other people and getting a carriage I told the bride her ring was lovely, that she had a lifetime to add fancier rings to flank it if she wanted, and she should stand her ground in the coming year.  Then I wished her well, and was encouraged by her smile.  It seemed genuine and, perhaps, somewhat more determined.

We also decided, yesterday, to expand the family.  I will have photos eventually, but the new baby boy is 2100 pounds, 17 hands.  He’s a Suffolk Punch stallion who was too expensive to feed.  The breed is struggling to survive as numbers fade, so… well… yeah I’m a suffolk-sucker. 

I came home to pour myself a glass of Pinot Noir.  My doctors have been telling me forever to drink red wine.  I like red wine, but always felt it was wasteful to pop a cork and only drink one glass.  We got one of those awesome wine-saving-cappers that re-corks the wine and keeps it fresh for a few days as a gift last month, so I’m shooting the moon and becoming a wino… or a semi-wino… a winette.  Happier, at any rate.  With a piquant top-note and a robust finish.

Here’s hoping 2011 is the same!