1/26/06

Is that a cool picture, or what? I’ve been looking at this one a lot lately – that’s the one I bought while I was in Maine – and y’all know I’m not much for hiking, but I think Fred might get me to hike Mt. Katahdin with him. One of these years, anyway, if I can convince him that he won’t crumble into pieces if he crosses the Mason-Dixon line.

* * * This is why eBay rocks: Because on Christmas Eve, I was getting out of the car, and I accidentally kicked one side of my purse, and my beloved Bolle Acrylex sunglasses fell out of my purse and fell into pieces (helped, I am somewhat certain, by my big fat foot stomping down on them, because I didn’t know I was doing so), and I thought “Well, I loved ’em while they lasted, but I’m about to go to Maine, and SURELY I can find something THERE”. Then I went to Maine and I looked high and low, and I even went to the Sunglasses Hut, and I tried on a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses at the Sunglasses Hut, and they were perfect, but they were 80ish bucks, and I said “Pshaw. Let’s go to LL* Bean’s!” We went to LL Bean’s, and I looked at all the sunglasses they had, and I was displeased to find that the only pair of sunglasses that looked at all like the shape I wanted were a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses, and they were, like, $175, and I. Don’t. THINK SO. Now, before you point this out, yes. Yes, it might behoove me to pay many dollars to get a good pair of sunglasses that will last and not fall apart like the cheap ones do, but I have this feeling that if I had been tromping my portly ass across a pair of $175 sunglasses, they would have fallen to pieces as quickly as the $15 Bolle Acrylex I bought on eBay sometime last year or the year before. Aaaaaaaaaanyway. So I bought a pair of wire-rimmed round sunglasses to get me through my trip to Maine, even though I don’t like them, and couldn’t find anything I liked, because I have very specific requirements for my sunglasses. For one, they must have roundish lenses. These are the roundish lenses I like. These are not. Secondly, the arms must not be too thick, and they must not sit too close to the side of my face. Thirdly, obviously, they must sit comfortably on my face. Fourthly, they must have plastic frames. The problem, of course, is that round-lensed, plastic-framed sunglasses that sit comfortably on my face and has arms that are not too thick are not what’s in fashion right now, and you can’t find the fucking things anywhere. So I got home and I began an eBay search. And I bought some sunglasses that, when they arrived, were just not right for me, which is why they’re up on eBay (AND NO ONE WANTS THEM, apparently). I kept looking and kept looking, and remembered that I really kind of liked the Maui Jim sunglasses I’d seen at LL Bean, and I Googled and Googled and Googled some more, and then. Voila! Maui Jim Cat Eye sunglasses for $14.99! And just between you and me, I don’t care whether they’re really Maui Jim sunglasses, or imitation Maui Jim sunglasses** or if they “fell off the truck”, or what. I ordered them, they’re exactly what I want, and I LOVE THEM. Reason the second why eBay rocks: Because we decided the other day, after Fred let Mister Boogers out into the back yard and Tommy went running out after him, that it’s time to buy collars for Tommy and Sugarbutt, so we can let them out into the back yard and they won’t escape. Fred looked around online and found that they were going to be $100 apiece at the place where we got the electric fence. After looking around some more, he went on eBay, and found them for $75 apiece. That’s a $50 savings! I can’t wait ’til they come, and we can let them out back (Sugarbutt’s a little scared of the traffic going by, so it might take him a while) and they can start catching birds and bringing them inside. Because that’s always a lot of fun! *Stands for Leon Leonwood, the Bean who founded LL Bean in 1912. I bet you didn’t know that. **I think it would be hilarious if someone started manufacturing imitation Maui Jim sunglasses and called them “Oahu James” sunglasses. * * * I went to the book store yesterday just to browse and because I was near the book store, and because I CAN. We women with no jobs and no children at home can do things like browse in book stores for no damn reason, and take 63,000 pictures of our cats and look lovingly at every single one of them, trying to decide which ones to post in our journal. I browsed for half an hour or so, forgetting that I had a crackcocaine-laden fountain soda waiting for me in the car, and then I stood in line. I put my magazine and notebook and book on tape (for Fred!) on the counter, and the cashier looked at me and said “Do you have (some fucking rewards card they’re always flogging)?” “I do not,” I said. “Would you like one?” she offered. “I would not,” I said. And then, because I am the most pathetic creature on the face of the earth, I was over-the-top chatty and nice to her for the rest of the transaction because – are you ready for this? – I didn’t want her to be MAD AT ME for not getting the rewards card they’re always pushing. Seriously. How pathetic am I? I go into that book store maybe twice a year, and I CARE whether the cashier chick – who probably couldn’t have cared less whether I got the rewards card or not – is MAD at me. I need therapy, don’t I? PS: The LastLine Bookmark is the BEST bookmark ever. I’ll never use another bookmark in my life, I shit you not. * * * Sorry, no cat pictures today. My computer is a fucking piece of shit and I can’t connect to anything anywhere at all. Lucky for me, Fred’s computer seems to be working just fine. Pardon me while I go scream at my computer and possibly kick it a few times. * * * Previously 2005: I figure they’re professionals and know what they’re doing, so I have no desire to clutter up the small amount of space left in my brain with that kind of information. 2004: I sense that there is a battle of epic proportions in my future, a show-down between Miz Poo and I as to just WHO the blanket belongs to. 2003: No entry. 2002: No entry. 2001: But don’t tell Miz Poo I’m admiring another cat, please… 2000: It’s a conspiracy!]]>