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!

Valentine's Day Surprises!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I know, I know, just yesterday I said how it isn't really a big deal in La Casa Lisa Pie any longer and what happened when I woke up this morning?

I went to the bathroom like most people do when they first get up and it took me a minute to notice that something was stuck on the mirror.

Here's what I saw:

Aww, isn't that sweet?  Those cute little boys from Glee!

It still didn't register that it was for me though.  So I was getting dressed and talking on the phone and headed to the kitchen to make my giant mug o'tea for the morning, while still on the phone with my wonderful friend Mom of the Peach and I went to the cabinet to get my tea mug and what did I spy on the shelf where the mug should have been??

A Valentine's card (with the promise of a home-cooked dinner!) and some beautiful flowers.  There are daisies, alostrumeriam and roses, all shades of pinks.  Just beautiful.

I am still on the phone and giving my friend a play-by-play of what is happening, too.  So I take my mug and go to the water dispenser to get instant hot water for my tea.

And look what I found strategically placed over the hot water button:

Hee!!  So I took my mug of hot water and went to the pantry to get my morning teabag of Scottish Breakfast.

And you will never guess what I found!

Another Glee Valentine in my tea box!!!

So of course, we are laughing and loving this over the phone still and I made my tea and went to the computer as I do each and every morning to do my email and check in on facebook, pinterest and One Kings Lane.

And sure enough!  One more Valentine on my screen.

And then I looked down at my keyboard:

How sweet is that?  Mr. Ed had to get up pretty early to sneak around doing this and not make a sound.  I was so surprised.

I can't wait to see what's planned for dinner.

In other news, I bought myself something off the Vermont Country Store  recently and just haven't taken pictures to show you.  Those of you who are my age may remember this.

Do you remember this?  Sweet Earth!  I have been so excited since I saw this on the VCS website and I finally broke down and ordered one.  This is the "woods" scents version.  Back in the 1970s there were also a flowers one and a grasses one.

I tried to get photos of the labels describing each scent but it's all shiny and glare-y.  From the left it is Sandalwood, then Amberwood and on the right Patchouli.  You can wear them individually or mix them as you wish.

I will check out the VCS site again and see if they carry the other scents or not.  Also, it seems like I remember there was some kind a Christmas-y holiday one too.

I just scoped out the google to see if anyone had posted pics of the original 1970s versions of the Sweet Earth and glory be!!  Of course, there are photos.

This first one is the Christmas-y winter ones, Frankinscence, Myrrh and Mistletoe.  It's in the newer version of the case.

Below is one of the older styles. The Rare flowers collection.

And here is a magazine ad for the Sweet Earth scents.

Makes me very nostalgic for all the great old cosmetic items from back in the day.  Do any of you remember Yardley cosmetics?  Love's?  Mary Qant?

Have a lovely Valentine's Day and remember that your friend Lisa Pie loves you!

Way to make me feel really OLD!

Okay, I was reading the news online as I tend to do.  And there was an article about Sinead O'Connor.  Remember her?  Irish chick famous for shaving her head and having a really haunting voice.

Also, for tearing up a picture of the Pope on SNL.  But for me it was always about her look and her voice.  I mean, who has EYES like her?  They are so deep and always seem so full of pain.

For reals.  Look at those eyes.  She was something else, wasn't she?


Seems that she has become a nutbar.  A nutbar that loves to tweet.  What is it with twitter?  I have tried and tried to get the hang of it, and it just doesn't come naturally or easily to me.

Unlike to Sinead.  She just tweets and tweets about things I would never expect to find on twitter.  Like "Oh, I am miserable and can't wait to die and go to heaven.  Someone please send me some info on how to suicide without it being obvious to my kids that is what I did".

Like her kids will never be shown this stuff that she put out in the world?  And it got scary enough that people were calling the cops and stuff to go check on her.

Now I know it was years and years ago that the above pictures were taken but I still always picture her like that.  So when I was reading the article and there was a picture of some older, fat lady with a Patsy Cline hairdo, it took me a couple of minutes to make the connection.

SINEAD O'CONNOR IS OLD, LIKE ME!

SHE IS OVERWEIGHT, LIKE ME!

Holy shitballs!  I am old and overweight, too.  o.m.g.

Why does it take seeing someone else and making the connection back to yourself instead of figuring it out when you look in the mirror daily?

You want to see the Sinead picture?  You know you do.

Are you as shocked as I was?  It's hard to reconcile today's Sinead with the one from 20 years ago.

And that's not fair, is it?  Why on earth would I hold her to a higher standard of upkeep than I did my own self?  If it's hard on me to maintain the look, the figure, etc. of 20 years ago, imagine how much harder it must be with the pressures of being in the public eye.

So, today I am saying a little prayer that Sinead finds some peace and serenity and quits tweeting bullshit.

New Bed!

Okay, here's Old Lumpy.  I had already put the quilt in the washer and removed all the blankies and was stripping the bed when it dawned on me to take some pics.  So that's why you are seeing Old Lumpy dressed up in 29 year old sheets.  You might further notice that we have a shitload of pillows up there at the top.  Mr. Ed has 3 pillows and I have 4 1/2 pillows.  We do like ourselves some comfy pillows!

Can you see the big high spot in the middle and the two low sinkholes on either side of the place where you get high-centered?

Ooops!  They took the mattress out before I could get a pic of it sans sheets.  Goodbye old box springs!!

Look, here are the brave, strong delivery dudes bringing in the new non-lumpy mattress.  See how they have to park waaaaaay down at the cul-de-sac and then schlepp that bad boy up the drive and then up the stupid steps that are a step-and-a-half wide each?  I hate those stupid step-and-a-half steps.

Here is one of the delivery dudes setting up the new frame.  Pay no attention to all the crap laying around the room while we make room for the removal and set-up.

Here's the new box springs all covered with a clean dust ruffle thing.  Lovely, uninformative photo.

And there's the new mattress!!!  See?  It still has the "Do not remove under penalty of law" tags.  It's all cushy, plushy and comfy!!

My friends Little Eliza and Virtuous Yvette showed up just in time to help me put new sheets on my bed and then try it out.  Don't we look like we worked really hard?  Don't you love my bunny slippers?  Don't you wish Yvette would put her whole self in and quit playing hokey pokey?

Actually, Little Eliza came by and rescued Old Lumpy from the delivery dudes truck and had them load it up on her truck and she took it home with her and it is now a "new" bed for her and her new husband. Yea for recycling and repurposing!!!

And here we have two more satisfied customers trying out the new bed.  Aaaaaahhh!  Can you just feel the relaxation?

Mr. Big Ed and I have spent more hours in the that bed this past weekend than I care to count.

Next purchase needs to be new headboard and nightstands.  Those things are just old and tacky.

Hope you enjoyed perusing the old vs new mattresses in Chez Lisa Pie!

Updated, necessary or not?

I saw these and thought to myself, "Self, these are genius!!"

Some were of course, better than others, but still very clever.  I am showing you the best ones.

Enjoy!

My Little Pony never looked like this much fun before.  What a hoot!

Bottle Caps!

Does anyone remember the song we used to sing at Girl Scout camp about bottle caps?  Never mind, I just looked it up and it is "One bottle pop, two bottle pop, etc."  WTH is bottle pop?  Oh well, I think most of those old GS songs had crazy lyrics.  (But they sure were fun!)

So!  My friend and fellow Compactor Ellen has just made a fabulous little bottle cap ornament.  And that got me thinking about the project I have on the back burner that requires bottle caps.  I am trying to save up as many as I can.  Now, none of us drink bottled soda or beer on a regular basis that have cool metal bottle caps.  Certainly none of those crappy plastic ones, either.  What on earth could you possibly do with those?

And then I remembered that I have not one, but two of the cutest necklace and earring sets made of bottle caps.  So here are some pics of those for Ellen to look at, and of course the rest of you that aren't bored to tears talking about old school metal bottle caps.

First up is a pic of the project I am hoping to get enough bottle caps to make.

And here is a more updated version:

Aren't those adorable?

The old school Granny pineapple pattern comes with variations to make into a bunch of grapes and also a butterfly.  They each require 50 - 60 bottle caps.  

If any of you are interested, I would be happy to post the crochet instructions on how to do these lovelies.

Now, on to my bottle cap necklaces!  The first one is made with all Big Red caps and the fronts are done with all Scotties, plaid patterns and mail boxes (with heavy plastic covering the pics).  Cute, right?  There are little pewter-y dangle things that pertain to the theme.

The next one is all RC cola caps on the back side and on the front each one is different brightly colored quilt patterns.  The little dangly things are scissors, hearts, sewing machines, etc. It is so precious! Could I be any more of an old lady?

Oooh!  Look at the thimble!  Isn't it sweet?

Don't you love them?

Ellen, if you are here and still reading this; could you tell me where you got your bottle cap puncher thing?  That really seems like a useful tool to have around the house.  You never know when you are going to want to embellish your bottle caps with dangly hearts and thimbles and then further dangle said caps from a necklace or turn it into a lovely ornament or whatever.

Oh!  Also, the Sarah with an H has not contacted me.  I will give it a few days and then draw a different name out of the hat.

Have a great day out there!