Tomorrow is Mr. P's birthday, and I have a surprise in store for him. Can't wait to spring it on him!
Christmas? I guess? I think I'm done Christmas shopping, which is good, since I hate Christmas shopping. I love giving gifts, but I hate crowds and shopping and the mall, and we have no money. So, I didn't do too much buying this year. I am not yet, however, done making Christmas gifts, as that is what most people on our list are getting. And this weekend is the last chance I'm going to get to get stuff done, so the sewing machine is humming.
As usual, my niece makes out like a bandit. I made a frilly flannel Xmas dress for her, and a cape. A little red riding hood cape. Only pink and fleece, which I figure will be practical in New England.
And a fancy schmancy button...
And little arm holes....
In the meantime, I've been working my way through the black and white pictures from the Xmas burlesque show. Should have them all up soon....
On the way back from the latest work trip to the boonies* last night I stopped at the fabric store to get a zipper for the Christmas dress I'm making for my niece. At the cutting table the young lady working there declared to her co-workers that the next day is her 18th birthday and she was so excited because "only two more years and I can get a gun." I thought I had misheard her-- the fabric cutting table not really being my image of the bastion of the NRA. But then she confirmed it, saying, "I so want a gun!"
One of her coworkers then pointed out that one needs to be 21 in VA to get a handgun. The young lady didn't see the import of that piece of information. Actually, she said, "Yeah, I know." Coworker pointed out that that was three years, not two. Girl argued with her for a while, insisting that it was only two more years, not three. Eighteen, employed, almost armed, and 21-18=3 is beyond her grasp.
Guess she'll be disappointed on her twentieth birthday. I think I fear for the rest of us.
Of course, she also declared, loudly, in front of a large group of customers, that someone asked her if she had any kids yet, and that she had responded, pointing animatedly at her crotch, "nothing is coming out of THIS until I'm MARRIED." The other women working at the cutting table stood blinking for a moment. Then one asked if she could take the next customer.
Meanwhile, this trip I got my regular deer season experience of a six year old, after being bidden to draw a picture of something that makes him happy, rendering a scene of himself holding a rifle larger than the body he'd given himself, busily killing forest creatures. In this case a deer, which was rather well drawn-- a good sized buck with a nice rack of antlers. The kid wanted to tell me all about his picture, turning his face towards me, the light glinting off his coke bottle glasses, and happily describing his snuffing out of the animal. I'm thinking that I may want to think twice about hiking in the woods around here, as they appear to be populated by nearly blind, heavily armed six year olds, and potentially armed not terribly bright young women.
* I should point out that, while the Littlest Hunter was in the boonies, the fabric store vigilante was in a suburb of Richmond.
Went to the Richmond Varietease Christmas show last night at the Canal Club-- lots of fun!
Had to upload it to youtube this time!
At least his bedding will be clean soon, even if he isn't....
Reasons I Am Buying Less At Trader Joe's
or
Items Trader Joe's Has (Apparently) Discontinued
in no particular order other than the most heartbreaking is first (also you might notice a theme)
- Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies--I told the cashier last year that I loved these so much I wanted to marry them. Then I wrote Trader Joe's and told them that, and they said they were a seasonal item. And they didn't bring them back this season. I want to punch them in the face for this alone.
- Pierogies--these had become rather a staple for me over the last year or 2. I'm not sure if they have been discontinued but I haven't seen any in a few months.
Hot chocolate mix in the round blue can--okay, they have the sipping chocolate which is good, and this one I can live without but still, just another turn of the thumbscrew. Saw it 12/10 on the shelf.- Chocolate yogurt--the kind with the real cocoa in the bottom that you mixed up and it was all delicious and shit, not that Eurotrash crap in the smaller container they try to shove off on you.
- Cookies with Perks--the chocolate chip cookes with espresso chips (or espresso flavored cookies with chocolate chips?). Haven't seen them since probably last winter or spring. Bastards.
- Milk chocolate cocoa almonds (are you getting the theme yet?)--now they have the black cocoa almonds, and they are pretty good, though unless you eat them with a spoon or chopsticks it's like you just read 100,000 newspapers (okay, newspapers that taste like chocolate, but still, it's messy!) Now---90% of the time I prefer dark chocolate, but this is one of the few exceptions (one of the others is the milk chocolate covered McVitie's digestive biscuits which I haven't had in years but I would probably sell a kidney for a packet right about tomorrow). Would it be SO WRONG to have both?
- I didn't check for it this time because I bought some at the regular supermarket since I couldn't find it at Trader Joe's the last couple times, but if they have discontinued their frozen broccoli florets I'm gonna bust up the joint.
- I don't think they have discontinued them (YET) but their sea salt brownies were really delicious until they lightened up on the sea salt. Now they are just bland.
- I didn't see the little chocolate mint cookie clusters. They were so good that I can't even remember what they were. They were in a brown and dark pink round container, like a pint of ice cream, like Thin Mints or something, all crumbled up and covered in chocolate, maybe?
- Also I haven't seen the dark chocolate toffee squares I've become rather addicted to, in a while. I bought some in September to bring on vacation. I have one left in front of me.
There are probably other things but it's probably like regular food that doesn't stand out in my mind like chocolate stuff. I will add things as I recall them. I know my neighbor was pissed about some croissants they discontinued, maybe almond croissants.
They are discontinuing stuff I like but not replacing them with anything as good or better. Are my tastes that eclectic? Do all the rest of the Trader Joe's customers have bland ass taste?
Oh--the first thing I ever had from Trader Joe's, before I lived near one, were these little chocolate animal cracker type cookies (my sister had them at her house when I was babysitting once and I wanted to eat the whole thing). They weren't chocolate covered or anything, they were like chocolate butter cookies that melted in your mouth. And they replaced them with something BLAND.
I seriously was planning on buying 10 boxes of those Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies. And next trip I would have bought 10 more. I'm completely serious. I was going to stock up so I could have them at least through the spring. Or till New Year's. Or till I OD'ed on them, or at least till I vomited.
Quit breaking my heart, Trader Joe. You are getting to be evil and sadistic, getting me hooked on this stuff and then yanking them out from under me, without warning, before I can stock up and buy out every store in the area.
I thought this was kind of neat.
The Beatles Complete on Ukulele (recorded in Shabby Road Studios in Brooklyn!)
I was just looking again at a newsletter I got in October from Spottiswoode & His Enemies and noticed it mentioned at the bottom. Well, Spottiswoode does a cool version of Within You Without You which I downloaded for free. Yep, all of the songs are free to download. They are doing a song a week for 185 weeks till the catalog is complete. And if you happen to be in Brooklyn this weekend, they are doing a Benefit Concert for Yoko Ono. Last year it was a benefit for Warren Buffett, so I don't think it's like Yoko's broke and needs bone marrow transplants or anything.
Sunday December 6, 2009, from noon to midnight at Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Whythe Avenue, between N. 11th and N. 12th Streets, Brooklyn 11211.
more info here.
Considering the month it has been, I really wasn't sure if it would happen this year, so I'm pretty happy.
Now I need to go soak my hands to cool them down after three straight days of non-stop writing....
