Monday, February 18, 2013

I love their love


Behold Anna and Bates, two of the best fictional people I know. Whenever they show up together on Downton Abbey, I smile. Mary and Matthew were the prettier couple, but to be honest it's his looks that make me mourn Matthew's passing. I just love everything about Anna and Bates, though. Swoon!


Weekend Update with The Gal Herself


Saturday was a good day because I had a lunch date with my nephew. He is so enthusiastic! About his upcoming class trip to Springfield -- on "a luxury bus with two bathrooms!" -- to see the Lincoln sites,* about the upcoming Academy Awards because he has seen two Best Picture nominees (Lincoln and Argo), about Chaos Walking, the new sci-fi trilogy the school librarian turned him onto.

He's also very enthusiastic about eating. Two slices of pizza, an order of fries, and a chocolate shake. I got the feeling that if he wasn't worried about being rude, he would have asked for more, too. What is it about pre-teen boys? 

He visited with me when I got my hair cut/colored. While that was sweet of him, my big takeaway from my salon appointment was my visage in the mirror. GOD, I AM SO FAT! Seeing myself in the mirror in a different setting made it obvious and rattled me. That's it! I'm back to calorie counting on Livestrong/My Plate.

Sunday I dropped a bag of clothes off at Goodwill. And then, reducing the amount of de-cluttering I'd done, left with two blouses for myself and a cheesy romance novel for the troops, all for about $8. My trip into Goodwill began innocently enough -- I wanted to see if I attributed the proper fair market value to the items I donated. But then I spied this whole rack of short sleeved black t-shirts and I need some to wear under my cardigans and, well, why not?

I admit that I was embarrassed carrying the Goodwill-emblazoned bag around my next stop, which was Kohl's. Isn't that silly? I made perfectly sensible purchases that helped someone in my neighborhood get job training. That's all good, right? And then there's the whole, "What do I care what anyone thinks?" aspect of it all, too.

At Kohl's I bought another trio of "under cardigan" pullovers, a shower curtain, and a Barbie doll and a Cars activity book. My niece and nephew are too old for them. They're the seeds for my 2013 Toys for Tots bag. If I buy a little something every now and again, by Christmas it will be full and I will be happy.


*I'm so happy he's an Abe-o-phile.