For Caitlin

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My dear friend Meri's little girl is in brain surgery today at CHOP in Pennsylvania.

Meri has been dedicated to finding out the cause of Caitlin's ongoing vision problems and unfortunately the reason turned out to be tumors. You can read more of her story and sign her guestbook at her CaringBridge site. Meri was a great help to me all year with Jaden's vision issues and especially as he began patching this summer.

Any and all good thoughts for this sweet girl are appreciated today. At the time I am writing this, Caitlin is 5.5 hours into an expected 10-hour surgery.

It's Still Wednesday Somewhere

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Like Maui for example. Thanks Safari for making my 11:55 p.m. post turn into a 12:12 on Thursday post. Harumph.

ANYWAY! I was trying to say...I really want a cake stand.

This has been going on ever since 2004 when I "discovered" this bakery in Los Gatos that has tons of vintage, sublime, ruffled-edge cake stands in technicolor on display.

("Discovered" means my neighbor told me to go there, go now and order banana cake with cream cheese frosting for a certain little boy's first birthday. Or anyone's birthday. Or just because it's Wednesday somewhere.)

ANYWAY! When I walked in there and saw all those cake stands it was like finding my left hand and being all, "Hello My Hand! I didn't realize you were missing all this time! I know it's because I'm right-handed but how did I live without you all these years?"

Anyway, I have never gotten a cake stand and I'm not getting one tonight either. But this Poppy Bowl sure caught my eye.

Wednesday Window Shopping

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In the midst of this day, with chest x-ray drama (resolved! no pneumonia! no lymphoma in the lungs! phew!); offspring's eye patch difficulties and 2nd degree burns on my thumb, I plum forgot to go window shopping today.

Never fear, power shopping has always been one of my strong suits.

Have I mentioned I am so BORED with the giant white wall in our main living space?


West Elm to the rescue!
Wood Plinth Clock, $49.

Pizzelles

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Recently some friends and I were emailing about a quote we read in this blog post and discussing our grannies and how they spoiled us.

My grandma used to give me her People magazines after she read them along with a tin of pizzelles stacked high and made with lots of love and powdered sugar. My oh my do I miss my grandma and her delicious pizzelles.

That very afternoon, I happened into Lunardi's for something and found on a small display rack some pizzelle cookies by this company. They passed my ingredients test (no hyrdrogenated oils, HFCS or artificial coloring) so I picked up a package.


They are pretty good.
Nothing like grandma's obviously but they'll do in a pinch.

Jo? Hand over the machine girl! ;)

Wednesday Window Shopping

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When I can no longer avoid the fact that there are large, hard parts of my life that are not in my control, it is actually quite obvious why I find comfort in organizing things. Since I'm upset about cancer and finances, let's think about ribbon and how much better my life would be if only my ribbons were more organized.



Someday I would love to have a few of these ribbon dispensers from Martha Stewart Crafts. They come in a chocolate color which is what I would get.

And then I'd stock them with delicious ribbon from Paper Source.

Wednesday Window Shopping

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Today I am shopping for some stress relief.


Hatteras hammock
$659.99, but out of stock
I really dig the cypress arc stand, of course two palm trees would do too.
In fact, as far as hammock stands, my priority list actually would be:

1. Two palm trees on a tropical beach
2. Two mature sycamores in a big backyard
3. A cypress arc stand
4. A metal stand

Actually, who cares what is supporting the hammock as long as I can take an uninterrupted nap when I get too exhausted from reading my favorite magazines?

As far as the hammock itself, well the possibilities are endless. I was quite torn between the pale blues which remind me of the ocean and the red because when it comes to red, let's face it, I'm still a slut. I definitely have a preference for these wide ones that will hold me and either of my sweeties with ease.

Today's edition of WWS brought to you by Hammocks.com.

{You've got to love a website whose motto is "Accomplish nothing."}

Instant Karma

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I talked smack about American Idol all afternoon at work, anticipating a certain outcome.



I tried to tune in for the finale now, and realized that LOST is higher on our TiVo priority list than Idol. I (we) have missed the entire thing. And of course, it's something I (we) should NOT have missed.

Sigh.

That's instant karma for ya.

(I might need to instantly reconsider this "no-tv-in-the-bedroom" rule of mine).

Wednesday Window Shopping

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I am going to test a new feature on my blog, hopefully you enjoy it as much as my checking account. Welcome to Wednesday Window Shopping wherein I drool over things I cannot (choose not to?) buy.

For the inaugural post, I offer you these beauts from Nine West. I tried the shoes on last night at the mall and fell...well...head over heels.


$69, on sale for $49.99




$99.00, on sale for $69.99



I have never had officially, legally, matching shoes and bag so this is a fascinating concept. Even if this bag is as large as my head.