Bella, Banners and Lulu

Bella

Isn't she lovely?

My 23 year old crock pot

passed on 3 days ago.

Both her arms had come off 

about a year ago,

and when I took her off the pantry shelf

 on Tuesday, her knob broke off.

I figured I could still manage with a pair of pliers....

Then yesterday I went to JCP

 to pick up my new eye wear,

and yes, they yell

"Suzan" now when I enter...

and I saw her, 

Bella.

On Sale

in 8 colors, no less.

And only 5 dollars more than the plain silver

Hamilton Beech I was going to buy as a replacement.  

Does anyone other than me assign gender

to inanimate objects? 

Of course Bella's gender was predetermined.

Seriously, isn't she grand?

I don't buy anything other than food 

these days, so the clothes I found last week, 

and the new glasses, and Bella are it for me

for the year.

I am thrilled with these items,

just thrilled. I touch and handle them as if 

they are precious gifts, as they truly are.

So many folks have so much less than I.

I am so very grateful.

I carefully examine and ponder each purchase.

I give most things a "ride in my cart"

before putting them back.

I'm serious.

If you are the eye in the sky in a store,

you would become suspicious as I weigh 

the purpose, price and necessity of each item.

I have been known to stand in front of a display of purses,

and handle and inspect dozens,

taking 30-40 minutes to select just the right bag.

Meanwhile I finished up my last pennant garland sample.

Ready for my Spring class this Saturday.

There are six more pennants to this banner.

They will hang above this set, 

once I get them strung tonight.

I made this one to keep.

I used some of my favorite papers.

I will sell off the other 3 samples after class.

I have 2 studio banners and 1 Bloom and Grow

Let me know if you're interested.

Now meet

LULU

Remember the polka dot purse I mentioned in a previous post?

Yes, this is one of purses I pondered for 40 minutes in JCP.

I do seem to be obsessed with polka dots of late.

Even in the banner!

The bow front purse is the one that I wanted,

but when I returned and stood there

and tried out half a dozen polka dot bags,

I decided this one would hold my camera better

as it was wider, and it was half off at $20.00

LULU 

you make my heart sing.

I got to thinking about what I  just said about

polka dots.

This obsession goes WAY BACK 

(Oh yes my hair was once much lighter)

Check out those shoulder pads!

I think this was one of the last years Ben was shorter than me.

Seems I dressed us up in PD's a lot.

They're happy things, these dots...

the notes I had on back of the pic were

"mom, take my picture"

She used to do that quite a bit around this age,

and she is just touching Gadget 

with her toes, not kicking her.

Sweet Gadget

best rescue dog ever

This sweet girl is graduating from college

with honors.

This lovely woman was just hired as a PA

(production assistant)

on a feature film starring

Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy.

I could just bust a button

on my polka dot blouse. 

Yep, one of the pieces I bought last week

  at JCP!