I just want to get my Subway on!

The other day I was reading a post by Sextant of Navigating the Finite about why you should never choose the shortest checkout line at the grocery store. You really need to go and read it cause it's hilarious!!! Go on, go read it, I'll wait...

See, told you it was hilarious right? What makes it even more hilarious is that this kind of stuff has happened to us all. I know it's happened to me, and usually when you I am in a super big rush. Which bring me to one of my pet peeves (oh...there are many).  So what is one of mine? It's people that are not working, that choose to go out to lunch during the lunch hours between noon and 2pm. Ok, I know...this is America, we can have lunch whenever we want. But c'mon people!!! Some of us only have one hour for lunch and you, for whatever reason, have the whole day!

For instance...last week on Thursday, I went to a Subway Sandwich Shop for lunch. The line is out the door, I waited about ten minutes to get close to the front of the line. There is one women ahead of me and ahead of her is a young man about 18 and dressed casually, with him is a young girl about 16 or 17 wearing super baggy boys basketball shorts and a little girl about 4 years old. Obviously they have been waiting just as long as I have and have had tons of time of peruse the menu, but they get to the front of the line and when they are asked "May I help you" they get into a huge discussion of what kind of bread they want, as that's the first decision you have to make at Subway. I mean, c'mon...are you aliens? Is this your first time on planet Earth? Is this your first visit to a Subway Sandwich Shop? Do we need Jared to stand behind you to explain the menu?

Then...they have to make the decision of what kind of bread their friend that they are taking a sandwich to wants. Then do they want it heated or not? Anyway, you get the point. These two are obviously unemployed or students, or they could be employed but obviously not working that day considering their casual dress and the baby girl. I'm sure they've been to Subway 100 times and already know the menu and even if this is their first time there, they've had at least 10 minutes to study the menu while waiting on line.

Me on the other hand...I'm tired, hot and still have 4 more hours of work to go before I can go home. I'm in a hurry, only have 1 hour for lunch and I'm hungry! I have already wasted 10 minutes in line and 10 minutes waiting for them to decide what they want to eat. There should be a line for working professionals to go through, like the merchant line at the bank! That way those who only have one hour for lunch don't have to deal with the riff-raff that is just out for a casual lunch..don't you think?

The Red Bird of Paradise

Yesterday I did a post about a man that was so enchanted by my Arizona Plant that he stole a bloom from it. We've always just called it the Arizona Plant, but it actually has a name. My cousin Norrie who lives in Arizona City...and c'mon, if you are going to live in Arizona isn't Arizona City the best place to live?

So Norrie told me they have tons of those there and they are known as the Bird of Paradise. I always thought this was a Bird of Paradise...

Bird of Paradise

Turns out that the Arizona Plant I have is called "Red" Bird of Paradise or more formerly Caesalpinia pulcherrima.

So I went out this afternoon and took a few pictures of my Arizona Plant aka Red Bird of Paradise so you could see it close up.

My sister says that mine isn't blooming as well as hers because mine gets quite a bit of water when the grass gets watered, while her's is in a place at her home that hardly gets any water at all. These plants are pretty drought resistant which is probably why there are so many of them in Arizona.

Check out the colors......BEAUTIFUL right? I did a post in August of 2009 with lots of pictures on my sisters Arizona Plant. You can see them HERE. But here's a closeup picture of hers.

Stolen Flowers

See these flowers? A stranger gave them to me today. No...actually, a stranger stole them for me today. Aren't they pretty?



























See...here's what happened. Today after work, I was at home in my bedroom. My bedroom has a sliding glass door that faces a quiet street to the side of my house. I happened to see a small pickup truck go by. Mexican music was blasting out of this truck...very loud Mexican music. So I moved closer to the window, being nosey to see why the truck wasn't moving.

I see this man step out and walk over to my Arizona Plant, a plant that was planted by my mom and dad in the corner of the front yard. It only blooms when it's super hot as hell!

You can see the plant in this picture. (This is the view from my bedroom, don't you love it?) See the beautiful orange flowers? Well I guess this man just couldn't resist and I saw him walk over; after leaving his truck running in the middle of the street, and he took out his pocket knife and cut off one of the flowers. At that moment he looked up and saw me looking at him out of my bedroom window.

He looked at me kind of sheepishly and did a thumbs up. I took that to mean, "is it ok that I am stealing one of your beautiful Arizona flowers?"

Being totally generous of flowers that just bloom by the Grace of God, since I had nothing to do with it, I gave him the "thumbs up" right back so he would know, "Sure dude, it's all good...go ahead and steal one of my pretty little flowers!"

He then turned around and drove off and I went into the kitchen to tell my mom what had just happened.

About twenty minutes later, as I was looking out the kitchen window...I know, I know...I'm like one of those lookie-loo neighbors that never minds my own business!

But ok, I was looking out the kitchen window and I see the same little pickup truck pull up and park  in the street along side my house and I realize it is the same truck. So I tell my mom, "Uh oh...that guy that stole the Arizona Plant Flower is back!" The guy gets out of the truck and I see that he is holding some white flowers in his hand.

I immediately thought, "Stalker alert!"

So he starts walking towards the front of my house and I head back into my bedroom where he is waiting outside the sliding glass door. Now I know why no one wanted this bedroom cause it's way too accessible to the street!

I open the screen door and he hands me the flowers and he says, "I felt bad that I stole your flower and so I stole these further on down the road to pay you back." Can you believe that? I take the flowers and tell him that I understand his stealing the Arizona Plant Flower because it's so beautiful and so unusual and they don't normally grow in California. He agreed and then said, "Well, the real reason I stole it is because yesterday I buried my wife and I'm heading to the cemetery and I saw your flowers and knew she would have loved them, so I had to take one".

Is your heart breaking yet? Mine did...

I told him how sorry I was and told him that I was sure his wife would love it and that he didn't have to repay me. He said he just felt bad because I was so nice to let him take one flower and he wanted to do something nice for me and now he was going to have to go steal flowers from somewhere else to repay the person he stole my flowers from!

I bid him good bye and put my pretty flowers in the pitcher you see in the picture above and sat there thinking about the whole thing and then said to my mom who had followed me outside, "Mom, if you had just buried your wife yesterday, would you be driving on the way to the cemetery with joyful Mexican music blaring in your car?"

Hmmmm, would you? I was brought up with the tradition that when someone dies you have a suitable period of mourning or "luto" as we say in spanish. You don't watch TV or listen to music or go to dances or parties. But I know that now a days, we don't mourn but we celebrate life...so who knows.

What say you? Does this seem odd or normal to you? Either way I had something interesting to blog about and I got to show you all my Arizona Plant and also I can brag that the beautiful pitcher and bowl that the flowers are in was made by my mom in a ceramics class she took eons ago. Isn't it pretty? I love it!

It's All Peachy!

It's been so hard lately to find time to blog! I've moved into a new house and the packing and unpacking and putting stuff away and understanding the Feng Shui of the house so that I can place furniture and pictures and knick knacks takes up most of my time. Not to mention the full time job.

But today I felt like doing something therapeutic and fun. So I baked a pie...a peach pie. My dad planted a peach tree years ago and when I moved into the house everyone told me to "cut it down!". But I'm a sentimental sap and I just couldn't.

I mean just look at it! The beautiful peaches ripening in the sun. The glorious California sunshine streaming through the leaves (ok, well it's over 100 today, but the sun is still glorious, if not a tad irritating!). Could you bring yourself to cut it down?

My Dad's Peach Tree. These are White Peaches, sweet and delicious!

So my mom and I picked us a whole bowlful of these bad boys and I pulled out my dusty cookbook from years past when I was a stay at home mom and baked beautiful pies, and got to work!

Aren't these beautiful! So sweet, even when they are green.

Here I am in the thick of things putting together the pie crust and facebooking in the background. I'm such a great multi-tasker!

Love the blue bowl my daughter April gave me. It's a whole colorful set and made out of Melamine!

Pie crust is done. The secret to a flaky pie crust is to try to never touch it with your hands. Cut the shortening in with a pastry cutter. I don't know if you can see it in the picture above, but that's the do-hickey right behind the jar of Crisco Shortening that's covered with flour. Then just toss the flour gently with a fork while you add the water and then quickly gather it into a ball and chill in the fridge, like so...

I wrap this with Saran Wrap and stick in a clean bowl to chill.

Then you prepare your peaches. I actually did that before I did the crust, but it would have been better to do it while the crust chilled, but no harm done. I didn't actually take a picture of that, don't know why not, but I didn't.

After your peaches are mixed with the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt you roll out your dough. This part went relatively well, I don't know why I thought it would be difficult.

Ok, do not do this. I put flour on my new granite counter tops and then realized I didn't know how I was going to pick up the crust once I had it rolled out. I usually roll out on Wax Paper. You do it the right way ok?

I roll it on Wax Paper to make it easier to lift into the pie pan.

Once my bottom crust is ready I gently lay it into the pie pan. This part can be tricky as if you are off a little (which I was) then it's really a son of a gun to move around and you can end up tearing it.

Even though I was a little off I was able to fix it when I put the top crust on.

Then you roll out the other half of the chilled pie crust and pour your sugary, cinnamony peach mixture into the first crust and then put the top crust on and crimp the edges as best you can. Don't worry about it being perfect. As you can see, mine wasn't perfect but when it baked it didn't make one bit of difference cause it's still beautiful!

Peach Pie and his Peachy Brothers. Isn't this a pretty picture? We picked way too many peaches!

Here's a close-up of the little guy before he goes into the over. I add my own little touch by mixing up some sugar and cinnamon and sprinkling the top, it's makes the crust crunchy, sugary and cinnamony.

Somehow I got one big glob of just cinnamon right in the middle!

Then you are ready to bake this baby! Here he is just ready to get that oven door shut in his face!

I hate cleaning the oven and cleaning the cookie sheet, so I place it on the cookie sheet covered with foil.

And here you go. Peach Pie in all it's Glory! And the crust was the flakiest I have ever made. It's like riding a bike, you never forget how. (And it does help to have it all written down!) This Peach Pie recipe belonged to my mother in law Marge.

Mmmmm, where's the ice cream?

That's how I spent a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon. Baking and sharing with friends and family on facebook and then blogging for posterity.

Oh...and I had a kitchen remake. I don't have the before pictures to share yet, but here's a sneak peak at my new kitchen. When I get a chance I'll show you all the before pictures...what a change

New back splash, new granite counter top, new painted cabinets, new cabinet hardware. I love it!

I think...no, I know that I am going to love cooking in this kitchen for years to come!

Tips on some great blogs, an award and seven things you didn't know about me, or maybe you did!

One of my favorite bloggers in the whole blogging world is JarieLyn from Write Place! Write Chick! From the very first day I started reading her I was hooked. Her photographs are amazing and she lives in the City that Never Sleeps...Las Vegas! She shares lots of information about Vegas and the surrounding area. She's fun,funny and goofy at times. Other times she's sad and pensive and can make you cry, but regardless, she is always JarieLyn! One day I hope to get together with her since she's from my neck of the woods and I visit Vegas at least once a year, so I'm sure it's just a matter of time until we sync up our calendars and make time to meet.

JarieLyn recently started another blog. How she does it I don't know as I can barely keep up with one. The new blog is called dancewithwords, very fitting for JarieLyn as she loves to dance and she does have a way with words! I'm going to explain the idea of the new blog using the  explanation off of the blog itself:

"This blog is a collaboration between two women who live in two separate countries. One lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, the other one lives part time in two different cities in Brasil. The reason we created this blog is to improve our writing skills while developing discipline in this medium. Our concept in writing entries for this blog is to each contribute a paragraph or two on one topic. Two perspectives, one post. It is our thought that writing this way will challenge us to write out of our comfort zone and to think more creatively. Each post has both of our writing styles within the entry."

Isn't that a great concept? I hope all my readers...all three of you, run right over there and check out one or the other or both of these great blogs.

The reason I'm mentioning these blogs and JarieLyn is that she has honored me with a blogging award on her dancewithwords blog! She's given me the award but even better she's given me the gift of her beautiful words by writing this about my humble blog: "Alicia over at Titere Con Bonete is my favorite blogger. She is so talented in her personal storytelling. Her blog is fun and never boring. I just love Alicia because she is so down to earth."

Isn't that so sweet? High praise from someone I respect and have such affection for. Thank you again JarieLyn for my SISTERHOOD OF THE WORLD BLOGGERS AWARD!

Now I'm supposed to tell you 7 things about myself and since I love talking about myself this should be easy...let's see if that's true.

1. I was very shy in high school so I forced myself to try out for the cheer leading squad in order to not let my shyness defeat me. I made the squad and had a blast and have always been proud of myself for not giving in to my fears!

2. Like JarieLyn I love, love, love to dance! My favorite dance music is Mexican music, especially Cumbias, Rancheras and Cha-cha's! Of course, I usually need to get my rhythm going so I always start with a shot (or two) of Tequila and then sip the rest of the night on a Long Island Ice Tea!

3. I'm a recipe cook...meaning I can't just throw things together and come up with a meal. I have to have a plan and a recipe and all the ingredients that go with it or I can't cook.

4. When I first got my computer back in 1994, I got hooked on chat rooms. After hanging out in a chat room for about a year with the same group of people, we all decided to meet one weekend in Chicago. I flew from LAX to Chicago all by myself to meet a group of 20 or so complete strangers. I had the best time and was so proud of myself for being so brave!

5. I really don't think I have much of an imagination. I think of myself as an "in the box" individual. I don't stay in the box because of fear, I just stay in the box because I don't have the imagination to get out of there. But I do so admire people that are creative and think outside the box.

6. I'm not a dog person. I know you wouldn't think that because I love my daughter's dog Chorizo to little itty-bitty pieces...but that's cause Chorizo isn't really a dog. And how can you not love this little face?

7. I enjoy sweet and salty foods together. The other day I added strawberries to my salad that had bacon bits and ranch dressing and mixed them in and they were delicious! I love Kettle Korn for the same reason, cause it's sweet and salty...plus crunchy!

So there you go....7 things about lil ol me! I'm supposed to pass the award on to two other bloggers that I feel are worthy of being in the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers.

The first blog I would love to offer the award to belongs to Paula over at Sweet Pea. Paula is one of those "out of the box" people I admire. She's a 7th grade school teacher and that right there would leave me exhausted. But not Paula, she's very active and enjoys keeping fit and sharing fitness tips and secrets with her readers. She's also a wonderful Crafter and believe it or not she can show you how to make a wreath out of a tennis racket. But my absolute favorite thing about her is when she shares here family heirlooms with her readers. She's a lot like me in that she is very sentimental about items from the past; things like vases and pots, old sewing patterns, cookbooks, jewelry, crystal...just tons of stuff. She posts much more regularly than I do and I guarantee if you check out her blog daily you will learn a lot plus be thoroughly entertained!

The second blog belongs to DUTA over at Places with Character. I have given DUTA an award before, and giving her another one is just further proof of how much I love her blog. DUTA lives in Israel and shares so much of her world with her readers. She posts amazing pictures and visiting her is like being given a tour by a professional tour guide. And she is so amazing because no matter how many comments she receives she personally responds to each and every one! She travels often and shares video about the places she has been.  Reading her blog helps me to realize that even though she's in a completely different country there are startling similarities in our life in spite of different cultures and beliefs. Did you know that there is a Global Seed Vault in Norway? I didn't know that either, but thanks to DUTA I now do. My dad has been a farmer all his life and when I told him about the seed vault that I read about on DUTA's blog I was amazed to find out that he knew all about it. And that is why I feel DUTA is deserving of a Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. I hope that you visit her because I'm sure you will love her blog as much as I do.

I couldn't give a Sisterhood of the World Bloggers award to another blog I really enjoy because that blog is written by a brother...not a sister. But I do want to mention him on my blog. He is Sextant of the blog Navigating the Finite. Sextant has the most interesting blog and he writes about so many different topics. I love that he does so much research when it comes to writing his posts. He writes about politics, electronics, retirement, the military and he does book reviews. One of his funniest posts recently was about a bird pooping on his head, it was hilarious. I wish I could make him an honorary sister and give him the award but I don't want the awards police to come after me. So Sextant know this...if I could give you the award I would but you have the Alicia of Titere con Bonete Award of being one of my favorite blogs!

We Must be the Cleanest Family on the Planet

Remember the Great Bee Invasion of 2009? If not then you can read all about it HERE.

Not since the Great Bee Invasion of 2009 have we been plagued by an infestation of any kind...until now. Now we are suffering through the Great Ant Infestation of 2012!

There are these little tiny black ants everywhere!

We can't leave even one breadcrumb on a counter. We can't leave any cookies or chips, no matter how tightly we seal them in the kitchen cupboards because they figure out a way in!

We can't leave dirty dishes in the sink or on the table. We can't leave any trash at all in the kitchen trashcan over night.

The little guys seem very friendly, although both my mom and my son say they have been bitten. I've found them crawling on my arms and legs and I haven't been bitten once...maybe my blood is not as sweet?

Well because of these little ants, we have had to clean up after ourselves every time that we make a sandwich, or eat some milk and cookies or chips or ice cream. Not that we don't normally clean up after ourselves...but c'mon everyone makes a sandwich and leaves everything on the counter until they finish eating, then you clean up, right?

During the summer months we love to eat ice pops. You know those little tubes of colored sugar that you stick in the freezer? I know, I know...they are full of sugar, but they are so refreshing and delicious! And they're just a summertime treat! And I only eat maybe 7 or 8 at one sitting...so give me a break ok?

Because of the little black ants, when we eat one we immediately go to the kitchen sink, put in a drop of Dawn and wash out and rinse the little plastic tube before we put it in the trash. We do the same thing with our cans of Pepsi and Diet Pepsi. We have the cleanest trash on the block!

Unfortunately because of the ants I have not eaten my quota of ice pops! It's just too much work to go and rinse out the little tube each time! And all because of "them ants!"
We been spraying Raid Ant Killer and their masses seem to be dwindling. Yesterday I purchase some Ortho Home Defense Spray and today I cleaned thoroughly and then sprayed the inside of the house thoroughly and we plan to spray the outside tomorrow. So hopefully soon the Great Ant Infestation of 2012 will be just another moment in history, just like the Hippy Bees!

Iwanna Wednesday - A Sitting Place

Ha! Bet you thought I forgot about Iwanna Wednesday right? No...actually I had this post all done but for some reason when I hit publish post on my work PC it kept giving me an error message and wouldn't let me post or save. So anyway...here you go!

It's Iwanna Wednesday again...see, I told you guys I was gonna get back to posting about things Iwanna. I still haven't found the perfect finials I want, as I posted about last Wednesday. I also haven't tried making the fabric-covered tennis ball finials, but I did show them to my mom, the craft queen, and she said they would be easy peasy to make. If you want to see how to do them please visit Dianne at In My Own Style.

So anyway....I'm going to be doing a bedroom makeover in the near future and there is one thing I have always wanted...a bed bench. I always thought it was called a Settee, but a Settee is something totally different.

This is your Basic Bed Bench...

This is a Settee...

Courtesy of Anthropologie 

As far as I can tell a Settee has arms and a back and a bed bench doesn't. I've always wanted a Bed Bench at the foot of my bed that I could sit on and put my shoes on in the morning. I've never really had a bedroom big enough to allow for it, but now my new bedroom is going to be huge and I'll have plenty of room so Iwanna one!

I've been reading lots of DIY blogs and seeing that a lot of people find really nice ones on CraigsList or Goodwill and then just re-do them. So I've been haunting CraigsList in hopes of finding one. But Iwanna share with you all the one's I've been seeing online that I love!

I love this one! It's a Bob Mackie Classics Bed Bench and you can have one for a mere $1,207! It's a little steep for my budget but I just love the legs on it, like a big square turtle! And I am so jealous of whoever owns this house because if you look to the upper right of the Bed Bench, this person also has a Settee!!!

I am so in lust with this next one. Look at the drawers for storage! You could put quilts or comforters, extra pillows...even your shoes once you take them off, or socks even! Plus the fabric and the detail on the drawers!! *sigh* Iwanna this one so much! This one you can see at Coleman Furniture, and the pricing is a little bit better at $435.00.

This one reminds me so much of Santa's Sleigh! Just read the description on this one, "adorned with ornate hand applied decorations covered with the beautiful glazed bisque color. With diamond inlay stone veneer tops on dresser and night stand and dark bronze color metal hardware, the "South Coast" bedroom collection captures the true elegance of traditional styled furniture." This is a piece of furniture that you would hand down to generations to come. I love it...and at $489.00 for a family heirloom? I think that's a bargain...although still quite a bit out of my price range, c'mon people...I'm looking on CraigsList and Goodwill!

So here's another one that I love even though I'm not a huge fan of blue (my sister Lisa would love this, she loves all things blue). I guess I love it because I love neutral colors, white, off white, ecru, beige, tan, brown, chocolate brown and this splash of blue would really make a room...don't you think? This one though is custom made and I'm sure it costs a pretty penny...my pennies are only cute.

But I think this is the perfect one. If I can find this one on CraigsList or at Goodwill then baby...it's coming home with me! As long as it's not over $100. I believe this place also custom makes them! Iwanna this one for sure!

So when I find one I'll be sure to let you all know. So Happy Wednesday and may all your Iwanna wishes come true!

Sister Wives

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past 4 or 5 television seasons, you’ve probably heard about a television reality show on The Learning Channel (TLC) called Sister Wives. The show is about this guy named Kody Brown who has a gaggle of wives. Hmmm, I think a gaggle is five and at last count there are 4 wives and around 16 or so children, so maybe he doesn’t have a whole gaggle, but I just like the term gaggle.


They all live in Vegas now, but I believe when the show first started they were living in Utah. They are a polygamist family, meaning Kody is married to one wife legally and the other wives are a “spiritual union”. The women are known as Sister Wives. I guess not only are they wives but the spiritual union makes them sisters to each other or something like that. I’ve never watched the show, just know about the show because of snippets of the promos for the show and what I’ve read online.

So what does this have to do with me? Well I believe a spiritual union may be in my future. You see…this morning while just doing my job I contacted a client about renewing his insurance policy. He seemed very worried that I get all his paperwork to him right away as he was heading out of town tomorrow. I told him not to worry; I would be sending all his paperwork today. Then I reminded him that he doesn’t have to renew this policy until June 30th which is when the existing policy will expire.

He then exclaimed, “See Alicia…that is why I love you! You keep my life straight!” (I only insure his vehicle…how is that his life?) Then he says, “Are you married?” Before I could answer, he goes on to say, “I know I’m married, but I have room in my life and in my house for another wife and I would like you to be that wife. I’m a really good husband and would treat you well.”

…… Say what?

The only thing I could think of to say was, “It sounds to me like you don’t want another wife, you just want a bookkeeper!” Thankfully he just laughed and didn’t take offense to my thoughtless declination to become his wife…Whew! I let him down easy... although I wouldn’t just be gaining a husband, I would also be gaining a sister, a Sister Wife.

It's Finial! Iwanna Wednesday

Did you read the title correctly? Did you think it's said that it's FINAL? A final Iwanna Wednesday? Look again...it's not FINAL, it's FINIAL, cause that's what Iwanna this Wednesday...some Finials. I can't do a final Iwanna Wednesday because I haven't done one in ages.

A little background on Iwanna Wednesday just in case you forgot. Ok...so I want everything I see. I mean it. I can walk into a drugstore and see something and say, "I want one of those." I can drive by someone's house and say, "I want some decorative rocks like those!" My mom and sister finally started teasing me and saying, "Aye si, Iwanna...you want everything!"

Iwanna Wednesday was born! A day when I do a post about what ever it is my little heart wants at that particular moment.

I've been looking a window treatments of late and there are tons of beautiful ideas. I notice that almost all of them have curtain rods and I mean real curtain rods, not the little white ones I grew up with that I still use. The ones that look like these. Do you remember these?

But now that I'm a grown up. I will put away little girl things and only want big girl things! Iwanna curtain rods like this.

See those cute little detail thingys at the ends of the curtain rods? Well someone got tired of people calling them detail thingys and they named them FINIALS...and that is what Iwanna today cause there are a gazillion of them!

For you wine lovers or maybe health foodies that love to eat fruit, how about these lovely little Grape Finials? These would be perfect in a kitchen or dining room right?

Sticking with the purple theme, I am so loving these! Purple beaded Finials...I think anyone would Iwanna these. I know Iwanna them *sigh*. You can find these at Etsy. I bet there are some of you crafty people out there that could buy the beads on strings and glue them on something and make these right? If there are some of you people out there, you can gladly make these for me and I would love you forever!

And I know I said I would put away little girl things, but for some reason little girl colors just call out to me...."Alicia....Alicia....you know you love us...C'mon Alicia....look at us, love us, want us."

Oh pretty little Pastel Finials...Yes, Yes, Yes, I love you, Iwanna you. You know you wanna them too! You can find them at PBteen.

But getting back to big girl things...how grown up and gorgeous are these? These were custom made for a boat builder and created to compliment the nautical theme in a boat cabin. They are little octopus' or is it octopi? You can find those at Allen & Baron.

This one reminds me of a TV show from my youth. I'll give you some hints. Major Healey? Master? Tony? Major Nelson? Did you guess it? If you said, "I Dream of Jeannie" then you had it. Doesn't this one look like Jeannie's bottle? Love it!

So finally I'm done with my Iwanna Wednesday Finial post! Ha! Actually, I think what I'm going to do is something that I've seen on a few blogs and on Pinterest. I'm going to make my curtain rods out of electrical conduit! Yes I am! And then I'm going to make finials out of old tennis balls. Old tennis balls you say? Yep...just keep on visiting me and I'll keep you posted. Happy Iwanna Wednesday and may all your Iwanna wishes come true!



Sciatica and the Escalator

Once upon a time there was a beautiful Princess named Sciatica and she lived in a huge castle. The castle was so grand that the king had escalators installed to passenger the queen, the princess and honored guests up and down the various floors of the castle.

Princess Sciatica loved going up the escalators but she had an intense fear of the escalators leading down. She would see  the others getting on the down escalator with no problem, laughing and joking and hanging on to the moving hand rail, but when it was Princess Sciatica's turn to go down, she would stand at the edge and tell herself she could do it, but she would immediately feel a weakness in her legs and a sense of vertigo and she knew that if she tried to take one step on those moving stairs, her legs would not have the strength to hold her and she would fall and tumble all the way down to her death!

Luckily the King had also installed elevators in the castle and Princess Sciatica would ride the lonely elevator down to the lower floors. She could hear the laughter and joy of the others racing up and down on the escalators and she so longed to join them and swore to herself that one day she would!

One day, the Princess rode the escalator to the third floor which is where her bedroom was. She needed to fetch her fencing gloves and then she quickly raced to the other end of the castle to where the King, good King Otis had installed the elevators. She pushed the down button and waited. After a few minutes, she pushed the button again and waited. Then she did what any intelligent person knows to do, push the button over and over again! That always makes the elevator come faster cause it knows your are pretty darned ticked off by now!

Yet the elevator didn't come and the Princess did not know what to do. She roamed the third floor where she found her sister Princess Lisa and her mother, the good Queen Tomasa. She was crying and telling them that she wanted to go back downstairs but the elevator would not come. The sister and the queen knew of Princess Sciatica's intense fear of the down going escalator, but they tried to convince her how easy it was and that they would go before her so she wouldn't have to fear falling. They would catch her! But fear struck the poor Princess's heart and no amount of cajoling or pleading would help. Was our poor Princess destined to live forever in the highest floor of the castle?

Apparently...yes! I know this cause it happened to me yesterday. I am Princess Sciatica!

Yesterday I went to Macy's Department Store with my mom and my sister. My mom had a gift card and wanted to use it to purchase a set of sheets for her new bed. The bedding department is on the third floor of Macys. My mom, sister and I rode the escalator up to the second floor, then the third. I had no fear going up and no worries about how I would get back down as I knew they had an elevator. Easy Peasy!

We shopped for sheets and then searched for the elevator and headed over and did as Princess Sciatica did. I hit the button and waited....then I hit the button again and waited...then my sister Princess Lisa hit the button (in case the elevator just didn't like me) and again we waited. Then I tried the old faithful move and hit the button several times in succession...nothing! Fear struck my heart! What was I to do?

My mom and Lisa tried to convince me that it's easy to get on the escaltor going down. They would help me, they would go down before me and that way if I fell I would fall on them. Aren't they wonderful to sacrifice themselves like that for me? Especially my 78 year old mother! But I knew that I couldn't do it. I no longer had the leg strength. Not since the great Sciatica Debacle of 2010!

For some reason, ever since I had that awful bout of Sciatica in 2010; where I had to take almost a month off of work because I was in the most excruciating pain I have ever had (it was worse than childbirth. I had two kids, one natural and one c-section...trust me, it was worse than childbirth), I don't have the strength in my left leg that I used to. It's hard just to climb stairs using my left leg. So I have to climb them by putting the right leg on the step first and then bringing the left leg up, then the right again, then the left. It's quite embarassing!

So there we were on the third floor. I can't use the down escalator and my mom and sister can't just leave me cause I drove and I had the car keys! We asked a couple of the sales clerks if the elevator was working or not and they really didn't know. Then I saw an official looking lady in a navy pin-striped suit and I asked her. And bless her little pea-picking heart, she saved Princess Sciatica! She told us that they were doing some work on the elevator so they were not working, but that she could take us down using the service elevator. I think she saw my elderly mom and thought she would do a nice thing for the sweet, elderly, gray-hair woman.

So she takes us through some double doors by the elevator and we're in the back of the store. And she was so sweet and she pretended like she was giving us a tour and pointing out products and joking with us. She was wonderful. Then she pushed the service elevator button and the doors opened. She then opened up this cage thing and she stepped in and said, "C'mon in!"

 We were all a little apprehensive. It looked scary. My mom even asked her in a timid little voice, "You are going with us right?" Our little Guide assured us that she would never leave us alone, "Oh nowhoney...I wouldn't leave you alone, Oh Heavens No!" So we had no choice, we walked on in. Our little tour guide then proceded to close the elevator doors and then manually pull down the gate door. Now we were in the Belly of the Beast! The elevator started. It was slower than the public elevator so it took a little while for the elevator to get to the bottom. Our little guide just kept chattering to us about various "behind the scene" things at Macys. We were almost to the main floor when my mom felt she had to make one thing clear. She turned to our little guide and she said, "The reason we needed the elevator is because my daughter is scared to go down the escalator." And then she pointed at me!

Can you believe that? My own mother threw me under the bus like that....lol. You have to admire her though, she didn't want to be thought of as some poor elderly lady that needed help getting around. Oh no! Not her, she's very proud of still being strong and independent! But dang-it...was my face red! Poor Princess Sciatica...