Let's take a walk down memory lane

The other day my daughter the fabulous Rachel Pie was here and as she is studying Chinese medicine and acupuncture she was working on me.  The next day we were heading out and about and I pulled out a winter pair of shoes that are kind of a stone colored suede Earth shoes to wear. That evening I noticed that my arthritis in my knee was much better and whether to attribute that to my acupuncture treatment or to the wearing of the Earth shoes I did not know.  Maybe both?

That got me to thinking maybe I need more Earth shoes in my closet, not just the suede winter ones.  I used to have a fabulous pair of red Earth shoes that I wore constantly but one of my asshole dogs chewed on one and ruined them and out they went.  So I looked online to see if Earth shoes has something nice, cute, and available.  Which led me down some rabbit holes of 1970s footwear. Which I am about to share with you!

And now, let's take that walk down memory lane and see if you remember these beauties:

First up, the ever popular desert boot or Chuka boot as we called them.  They STILL make these things!!

Then the tennis shoes that were also jogging shoes, basketball shoes, track shoes, pretty much anything athletic you did you did in these.  Whether they were Converse or PF Flyers this was the shoe.  I had red ones that I put purple laces in and I wore them to marching band practice for YEARS.  I kept those shoes until just a few years ago.  Loved those shoes.

And then came Candie's.  Iconic shoe right there.

Jellies!!!  I loved my jellies!  Mine were root beer colored, not regular clear.  Lord, I loved those shoes.

Now, I would have never been caught dead in this shoe.  But my mother wore the hell out of these in many different colors.  Grasshoppers.

And who remembers shopping at Thom McCann?  Might have been one of the first mall stores I shopped at, along with Casual Corner and the 5 7 9 shop.

Check out these wooden platforms!  You know you had a pair.

When I was in high school some of my best friends worked at Kinney Shoes together and we went in there all the time.  Kinney Shoes.  I wonder when that quit being a thing?

Yoyos!!!!  Do you remember Yoyo shoes?  I swear I had these shoes right there.

And here they are, the original Earth shoe.  Most people considered these ugly.  I looked at these and thought "OMG, there is a shoe shaped like my foot!  It might feel good!  It might not even pinch or hurt or be uncomfortable."  I have been in love with the Earth shoes ever since.

Famolares!!!!  Such a ridiculous concept that we all bought in to.  Wavy shoe bottoms, what the hell were they thinking!

Here's a nice platform shoe.  If you are a 1970s pimp, maybe.

And even more decorative platforms.

It was an interesting time in footwear, wasn't it?  Makes me wonder which of today's choices will be laughed at in 20 or 30 years time.

Hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane!

Catching up. Again.

And a great good Saturday to you!  It is the most gorgeous day outside.  I have no idea why I am inside typing on the computer instead of hanging around outdoors.

Oh right, the flipping allergies!  I pay for it each and every time I spend big chunks of time outside.

But, that is not what I want to share with you.  I have things to talk about and pictures to show you.  So, get up now and go pee.  Go get a refill of your favorite beverage and settle in to see what you shall see.  : )


First up, I saw that I was running low on Downy.  Yes, I still use Downy.  No, I do not feel guilty about it.  When I was at the store I had to keep looking at the bottles to see which one is the same as the one I have at home because it was slightly different.  So when I got home I set them next to each other to make sure I had bought the right flavor.  And what else did I spy???

Here is a close up of Bottle A, aka the old one, the one that was already here:  Spend a few minutes perusing the label, won't you?

And here is a close up of the new label.  Go ahead and check it out and notice the differences.

They are both Downy.  They both contain 1.84 liters. They are both lavender scented.

Here's the deal:

THE OLD ONE SAYS IT CONTAINS 78 LOADS worth of softener.

While the new one only does 72 LOADS!!  ???

I took the caps off and looked at them since they are the measuring devices to know how much product they recommend.  And guess what?

EXACTLY THE SAME CAP, EXACTLY THE SAME MEASUREMENT.

Anyone else confused by this?

Those dicks over at the Downy offices have done some very creative math to come up with this.

And by the by, I don't follow their recommended quantity per load.  The first thing I do is to pour half the new bottle into the empty old bottle and then refill both with water and mix them well.  This is following the Rule of Half.  Half of any recommended amount of product will do the job just as well.  Try it with your shampoo, conditioner, laundry products, liquid hand soap, etc.  I promise you won't miss the other half and you just saved yourself a bunch of money and time shopping to replace these things.


In other news, the lovely and talented Miss Rachel Pie has been working with small children.  And you know what that means, don't you?

She got sick!  You have to have a really strong immune system to work with the wee ones, as they bring in germs like nobody's business.  Anyhoo, she was S. I. C. K. She went from feeling a bit poorly to running ridiculously high fever, throwing up and sick as a dog overnight.  And thanks to the Affordable Healthcare Act, she is still on our insurance (at least until her next birthday).  Our insurance has this great local business partnered up on it called White Glove Health

Go check out their website and see if they are near you or if you can sign up for them.  Essentially, they are in business to get people well as quickly as possible and back to work.  It keeps up productivitiy and that is why Mr. Big Ed's company has gotten this policy for all the insured employees.

Anyway, Miss Rachel Pie was sick as a dog and there was no way she was going to be able to sit for hours at the med clinic waiting to be seen, so we called the White Glove Health people and they sent a nurse practitioner right over.  She examined Rachel Pie, she looked down her throat, in her ears, listened to her heart, asked tons of questions, you know, the same thing the med clinic doctor would have done.  Then she said Rachel Pie has a sinus infection and a ear infection and prescribed medication, antibiotics, bed rest, liquids, etc.

And did Miss Nurse Practitioner then hand me a bunch of prescriptions to go fill?

No she did NOT!  She reached into her Mary Poppins-style bag and brought out a bottle of antibiotics, 2 bottles of Mucinex, 2 bottles of nose spray, 1 bottle of ear drops which you will see below sitting on a box she also gave Rachel Pie called a Well-Kit.

See the Well-Kit box?  With its cute little carry handle?  What do you suppose is inside?

Let's look, shall we?

I spy with my little eye:  cough drops, 2 packs of tylenol, 2 packs of motrin

1 can of chicken noodle soup, 1 bottle of Gator-ade, 1 pack of jell-o, 1 can of Ginger Ale

1 pack of Kleenex, 1 snack sized apple sauce, and a box of saltines.

We didn't have to go to the store.  We didn't have to go stand in line at the pharmacy.  We didn't have to get Rachel Pie out of bed for 24 hours, actually.

She may call herself a Nurse Practitioner but I think she might have been Florence Nightingale reincarnated.  : )

And FINALLY!!!!  I know, I know, first I don't blog for a month and then I go on and on f o r e v e r . . .

But this is cool, so you will want to stay tuned for this last part.

Have I ever told you about the glass ball collection I have?

Well, my mama travels to Germany a lot.  She used to, anyway.  We have relatives over there so she goes to visit and takes a suitcase full of Mexican food items that they can't get and refills that suitcase with lovely things for all of us.  Anyhoo, she goes to some glass factory and buys these gorgeous blown glass balls.  All different sizes, and colors.

And we string them up with ribbon or fishing line and hang them in the windows like sun catchers.  They are just gorgeous.

Well, we moved to this house in May of 2005 and I have never found a great place to hang them in this house.  So they have been sitting in a cabinet in bubble wrap, just waiting.

And you know how one thing leads to another and then another and then BAM!!!! The light bulb comes on of how to think outside the box?  Well, that is what happened to me.

Why do they have to just be unused sun catchers?  Why can't they be Christmas ornaments?

But what kind of tree would they really be showcased on?


And BAM!!!  I got hit with another picture on Pinterest of a gorgeous wrought iron tree with loads of space between the branches for just such baubles as my glass balls.

So, I ordered it and it arrived!

Yay!

I spent yesterday putting it together and hanging all my little glass balls, some of which are egg shaped and some are heart shaped.  And here is your photo montage of this!

Here is the shipping box as it arrived and I took it to the corner of the dining room where I am going to assemble and display it.

Once I opened the shipping box, here is the box that was inside.

And when I opened the box this is what I found.

Each of the corrugated paper wrapped items had a label on it identifying what piece this is.

Once I unwrapped every piece and lined them all up in alphabetical order, way on the bottom of the box was this instruction sheet.

Here it is all put together and naked.  I think it might need a skirt of some kind. What do you think? Any suggestions?

And here it is with all the beautiful balls, eggs and hearts in place.

And here are some close-ups of the ornaments.  Sadly the glass reflects the light so much that they don't show up as beautiful as they truly are.

What do you think?  I think it was well worth the $$ to buy a new item to showcase these beauties rather than letting them languish in a drawer.  And besides, you all know how I am on a campaign to quit using the shitty quality Made-in-China Christmas lights.

As always, I am happy to get some comments and hear your thoughts.

p.s. Should I write or call the Downy Dicks to see what gives on their bottle information?

Doula Stuff

I was going to come up with a catchy title and then I thought to myself, "Self, if you let them know ahead of time it is doula stuff, those who are interested will check in and read and those who don't give a fig about birthing babies will know to leave this alone and not bother and then be disappointed." So that is what I did.

Did I tell you that my Rachel Pie has moved back home?  First time in 7 years that she has been back living at home.  And it's about damn time if you ask me.  Anyhoo, she has been interested in the doula work and has taken the training twice now and was working on her doula career back in CO.  So now that she is back here, she already has the "in" so to speak on getting into the birthing community here. And she has just gone headfirst into the deep end!

So I took her on as my little apprentice/shadow doula to accompany me to all my visits and birth with my client so that she could learn the lay of the land here.  I am sure birth is like everything else and has its little regional differences in how things are done.

And Sunday was my client's day to birth her baby.  She woke up in the wee hours of the night/morning with her waters broken and light contractions.  It was a beautiful birth.  She was so calm, composed and totally willing to try anything I suggested in order to have her labor progress.  She and her husband worked well together, plus she had me and Rachel Pie there to support and help.  There was a lot of trust in that room.

Sixteen hours from the early morning awakening was the birth of a precious baby girl.  She made her entrance to the world at almost 5 p.m.  Her mama did a spectacular job of pushing and working hard and just did her best for that baby.  It was an honor to be there.

It was also a pleasure to have my Rachel Pie there to witness, to help and to learn what it is to birth a baby.  She did an amazing job and I was proud to have her there.  I hope as she grows and moves through her doula career that I will get to continue to watch her work.

I am thankful for my work.  Thankful for my clients.  Thankful for my Rachel Pie.  It was a rewarding day.

Rachel Pie

Today is my daughter, the lovely and fabulous Rachel Pie's birthday.  Not just any birthday, but her 25th.  That is a big deal.  Makes you seem like a grown up person to be 25, doesn't it?

Here is a little pictorial of some Rachel Pie for your viewing pleasure!

First up we have pumpkins!!!  Yes, indeedy.  My kids were pumpkins for Halloween several years running and they had the costume that doubled as pajamas.  Rachel is 2 years old here and quite a happy plump little punkin!

This next one is a year or so later and I don't even know what to tell you about that gorgeous, messy little face.

This one is around 2005 to 2006 when Rachel had just started at Naropa University.  She was home, it's a backyard party, so I am guessing it is July 2006 for Jonathon's birthday.  Have you ever seen anything prettier than that smile?

This next one has a date stamp on it so that's helpful.  We are at a cousin's wedding and all dressed up. It was a lovely time.  I think Rachel looked exceptionally nice with her hair cut like that and in her apple green dress.  

Here, Rachel Pie is modeling the Virgin of Guadalupe jacket I made for her.  First the backside, then the front.

Here is a cute picture of Rachel with her Mimi (my Mama).  We are at a graduation party for my nephew.  I think this is the year that Rachel had spent a semester down in Mexico teaching permaculture and living on an organic herb farm.  That is why she is looking so tan and healthy!

Look!  Another family wedding and Rachel is wearing the green dress again!  She looks like a million bucks in that dress.  It has the little black band at the top and a full skirt.  She usually wears it with those little slip-on heels like Lucille Ball wore in the 1950s, and a black satin wrap.  That dress fits her like it was made just for her.  Her brother Sparky is on the left and cousin Danny is on the right.  They all had such a great time at this wedding.  All the cousins, including the bride and groom, went out dancing afterwards.

This next group of pictures are from Dec. 2009 when Rachel graduated from Naropa.  We were taking lots of fun pictures and everyone was laughing that whenever Jonathon a.k.a. Sparky smiles he gets squinty and you can't see his eyes.  Notice in the second picture, Rachel is trying to help him out with that!  She's such a good sister!

And here's Rachel filing in to get her diploma!  Yay Rachel!  The purple sash is a thing Naropa does rather than traditional cap and gown.  They also filed in behind bagpipers!  Awesome.

I am always proud of Rachel, but this was a huge moment for all of us.

And here's a picture of Rachel Pie last year when we were on the cruise.  She could not be any lovelier.

This is just a small sampling of some Rachel Pie pictures.  She has been a blessing to me and teaches me things every day since she was born.  My life was never as full and complete before Rachel.  I stand in awe of that child.  She just amazes me.  I can't think of a single person who is as sweet, tender, giving, loving and strong as she is.  I have never felt right taking any credit for her.  I am just an observer who gets a front row seat watching all the ways she enriches the lives of all she touches.

I love you, my beautiful precious angel face.  It has been my privilege to watch over you for this first 25 years, and I hope to be here for the next 25 and as far beyond that as I can.

Happy birthday, sweet girl.

Worst Blogger Ever Returns

Hey there!  Yes, it has been 2 full weeks since I last posted anything.  Yes, I do realize I am in the Worst Blogger Ever category.  But, I have been really busy.  For reals.

My sweet little Rachel Pie is home and we have been busy staying up damn near all night long playing cards, drinking tea, drinking eggnog, crocheting, watching Christmas movies, you know, the usual.

Plus there have been many days of trudging through the grocery store to get everything we need to make:

A. Chex Party Mix.  It is not the holidays around here without tons and tons of Chex Party Mix. My s-i-l and I both make it and we go through that stuff like there's no tomorrow.

B. Tamales.  Tamales are a traditional thing to make for Christmas eve and we really try to make good ones and have enough to get through New Year's.

C. Christmas candy and treats to pass out to the neighbors.

D. Regular meals during all of this holiday shenanigans.

Now about the candy, let me tell you this, I got the recipe from the blog of someone else, and since I haven't asked her permission to send you over there, I won't do that just yet.  But if she tells me "yes, please send your 5 readers over here" I will do just that.  I got the recipe she calls Crock Pot Candy and thought it seemed like a really fun idea.  So I bought all the ingredients and did as it told me to layer them up in the crock pot and leave them for 3 hours.  DO NOT TOUCH OR STIR FOR THREE HOURS! And then you stir it all up and drop by spoonfulls into little miniature cupcake papers to set up.

I left it the requisite 3 hours and went in to find a 2 inch thick wall all the way around the inside of the crock pot of burnt all the way to charcoal mess.  It was horrendous.  You have never smelled anything so gross.  Not to mention it took days to soak, scrub and chisel that crap out of the crock pot and try to get rid of the burnt smell.

I got a few more ingredients and tried again.  I'm so brave, right?

This time I checked it after 1 hour and it was almost ready.  After 1 1/2 hours it was perfect.  My crock pot must run really hot in the low heat button.  I don't know what's up with it.  But half the time was just right for my crock pot.  I guess crock pots are like microwaves in that they are each a bit different and quirky.

So Rachel Pie and I got all the little shiny gold and silver papers ready and dropped all the ooey gooey goodness in to them and I added some crushed peppermint on top for festiveness.  We packaged these in little tins with gold tissue paper and passed them out to the neighbors.  And within an hour of returning home several of them had called to say how much they loved the candy.  Now I don't know about you, but when people come calling with treats I tend to put them on the holiday table to serve along with all my other goodies.  I don't generally open the package and scarf them down right there at the door.  But that is what they seemed to do, and they all loved them.  New recipe to add to the holiday repetoire.

Today is our 30th wedding anniversary.  Can you believe that?  Mr. Big Ed and I are officially old farts if we are that damn old.

Here's something else you aren't going to believe!  (Lisa Pie's blog, where you come to find the unbelieveable and be astounded)  Mr. Big Ed is known far and wide by his lack of the shopping and gifting gene.  The man just doesn't like to shop and is oblivious to gifts, getting or receiving.  It has taken a lot of years for him to get to the point where he is today.

In fairness, it has taken me a lot of years to learn to tone it down when gifting to him, because his not wanting a lot of stuff and a lot of fuss made over him is not a character flaw.

So when we exchanged our anniversary gifts, I almost fell out of my chair when I opened the box to find a 36 inch strand of Tahitian black pearls.

I'll just let that sentence stand alone and let that thought soak in.  Pearl is the traditional gift for 30 year anniversary.  Black pearls are one of the things that would be on my bucket list of things to acquire.

I may have toned down my gift giving just a tad too much, since all I got him was a cute little thing to heat up his towels for after the shower.  I am not saying it's a crap gift, but next to black pearls?  It didn't look all that awesome.  I hope he enjoys it as much as I will enjoy those pearls!

What's going on over here

I thought I would take a minute to let you know what has been going on with me.  I have been so irritated with the Christmas lights situation that it was completely ruining my holiday spirit.  I have a couple strings of the really old lights that use the big bulbs, you know the ones I mean.  But this house is so darn big out front that these strings would not really cover very much, so I have not been using them.  Anyhoo, all this is to say that there was a time when Christmas lights were made well.  Made to last, in fact.  Everyone knew the bulbs would burn out and that's why you bought spare bulbs.

But over the last 5 years or so, maybe even 10 years, the lights (and I am speaking here mostly of the interior ones for going on the tree and such) are of lesser and lesser quality and don't seem to make it through more than one or two seasons.  Why is that?  Did people forget how to do it right?  Or is it more likely that there is some "cutting of corners" going on in the factories?  I am sure someone came up with the bright idea that they could make more money selling replacement strings of lights rather than a few bulbs.

But what happens to all these dead strings of lights?  Did no one ever consider where they go?  Or how will they break down?

On top of all THAT! a couple years ago I was testing and unwinding lights to put on the tree and happened to look down at the plastic tags attached near the plug end of the strand and it said something along the lines of "Warning!  light strings are coated in lead.  Be sure to not put your hands in your mouth and wash hands thoroughly after handling!  MADE IN CHINA"

Huh?

Wtf?

Lead?  Really?

So I started researching and found that the ones that say LED on the box are supposed to be a much better, and safer product.  Not only that they claim that they never burn out.  Now, that's a claim I can get behind!  And of course I expected to pay a lot more for this product.  Gradually, as my strings of lights kept burning out and I would very guiltily throw them in the trash, I was replacing them with the more expensive counterparts of LED lights.

And you know how they said "never burn out"??  That's a big, fat ass lie.  Not only do they go out, but there is no possible way to just replace that bulb and move on.  The whole damn expensive strand of lights is now expensive landfill that will probably leach toxic shit into the water.

I am just disgusted and irritated and totally out of the holiday spirit by now.  And I did what I always do when faced with this kind of situation.

I asked myself, "Self, what did people do BEFORE the strands of lights?"

I know, you are going to say candles, and that they are not safe.

But surely there was something in between the days of candles and burning down the house and today's life-threatening lead-coated pieces of crap???


And I remembered seeing something from the old days that I thought would fit my needs perfectly.

Yep, I have gone old school.

We here at Chez Lisa Pie will be rocking the aluminum tree with the color wheel!

The color wheel is an all metal item that is from the 1960s and is still working.  One thing to plug in rather than 6 inferior pieces of crap that will decide to quit working.

I am soooo excited to get this thing here!!

I will keep the crappy lights that I have now and do my best to keep them working until the day I have to send them to the landfill, but I have my way out of that consumer loop now.

I did try to post the pictures of my exact tree but couldn't.  So when it arrives I will photograph the whole process of opening  the box and each of the 151 branches that go on it.  Woot!!!

In other news, it was my birthday last week.  We went out last night to celebrate by eating at our favorite restaurant, Lüke and then going to The Majestic Theater to see Fiddler on the Roof.  Everything was first rate.  The food, the company, the wine, the weather, the show.  The evening could only have been made better by the participation of the precious Rachel Pie, who sadly will not be here with us until this coming Saturday.  Yay for Saturday!!  Yay for Rachel Pie coming home!!

Rachel Pie's lovely partner who has not given me permission to use her name so I will call her Partner of Pie will be going to spend Christmas with her family.  One of these days we will have to get all of Partner's family here with all of our family so no one has to pick and choose who to be with and who to leave.  Anyhoo, what that means is that I get Rachel Pie all to myself for a few days.  Oh, the slumber partying we will do!  All the snuggling!  The staying up really late playing cards!  All the tamale-making!  It's gonna be a fun time here at the house!  Yes, indeedy.  Maybe Rachel Pie and I will get really cute matching Mother-Daughter Christmas sweaters or something?

Yeah, like that would ever happen.  Hee!!!