Oh the Drudgery

Well, I am officially cranky. Yes, it is that time of year. When I got up this morning it was 8°F, it has now gone down to 6, not that it makes a whole lot of difference, but I am whining. There is snow and ice everywhere, and just walking across a parking lot is an exercise in scary dance moves as you try to NOT fall on the ice. If you are lucky, you don’t have to wade through an 8 inch drift to get out of your car. We start on the inventory of my mother’s bead store this week, and that is about 12 days of pure slog. You’d be amazed at how many folks think that would be a fun chore. Trust me, it’s not. The holidays are over, there is nothing to look forward to, except spring and that is a VERY long ways off. Sigh … But, thankfully, shopping is always available for relief of crotchety old ladies.

Let’s just get these out of the way:

What are these supposed to represent? Dante’s Seven Circles of Hell? Those figures don’t improve on closer inspection:

The figures don’t look happy, and they don’t look pretty, and yet someone used these lamps long enough to damage them in multiple places! I get it when your mom hands you something for your new apartment and points out that the alternative would be sitting around in the dark. There is really no need to take her up on it though, and you might question the taste of the woman who purchased these in the first place. They could be improved by a better shade, say one that covers them down to about the last 6 inches of lamp base?

These might belong with the lamps:

Just because the decorator picked them out does not mean you need to go blindly (and I am sure some poor vision had to be involved) along with them. I like animal prints and I would give these a wide berth. They aren’t even very nice-looking shapes. Covering them in something else really wouldn’t be a huge improvement. Some nice floral chintz wouldn’t disguise them. Maybe just standing at the bar would be a better alternative, or haul them out to the mancave, and let them take their chances with the beer and cigars.

While we are looking at furniture, we have questions:

Why does this desk have shutters and a roof? Never mind the odd choice of a world map for the background. It was pretty sturdy stuff, real wood and all that, but why? I could see maybe a child thinking the roof area would be a cool dollhouse set up, but then the shutters are in the way. The shutters didn’t do anything but block part of the shelf. Not like they were a separate area or anything. It would be hard to put more than a few books in it, so that is out. Try adding some knickknacks, and then the map just becomes a distraction to make it busy. The writing surface was OK, but you know why they got rid of it, as most computers wouldn’t fit with any sort of ease. Take the top part off, throw it away, and you would have a reasonable, albeit ugly desk.

We tried to like her, just because someone else tried so hard:

She is not really a Storybook Doll, but one of these lightweight plastic knock offs. Someone has very carefully dressed her up as a little fairy. You can just see the wings that look like ribbon in the bag. The skirt was green and sort of velvety and cut into an uneven hem line, so maybe they were going for Tinkerbell. She was with the Christmas ornaments, but my bet is she was a gift from a loving nana, and got left with the ornaments, when said child was not amused and wanted a Disney Princess doll. We felt sorry for her, but not to the tune of $3.99.

Another well-meaning crafter dressed up this fellow:

This is a clear indication of not knowing when to say when. For heaven’s sake don’t offer to pour them a bourbon. Your whole bottle would be in the glass and down their gullet before you knew it. With a few less ruffles, the frog could be cute, but what did that chair ever do to you? Can you imagine ruffles like this on a chair in human scale? Arghhhh. Recently, I have noticed a resurgence in popularity of these chairs (the human size ones), and it is now a must have for 30-something decorating. I had one in the ’80s and was not sorry to see it go. They were never comfortable, but our frog prince seems to have the art of lounging in them down pat.

I am not sure I know where to start:

I know where it should have ended, long before this became a thing. On the surface it might not be so bad, if you hurried past it in low light, you could survive the ordeal, but get closer, notice the sculpted rocks and trees, imagine the demon in the cabin and the monster in the water. You could say it looks idyllic, but I think there is a horror movie lurking in the wings just waiting to be filmed. Maybe you hear banjo music? The thing that always gets me about stuff like this, it that it is almost always gone the next week, and I don’t think it made it to the trash. I shudder to think who it is haunting now.

We thought this was pretty funny:

Deb and I were able to attend a really fun little doll convention for several years in Vegas and this looks like us on our way out the door. Just remember all that spare cash in there was applied to dolls. Neither one of us gambled a single penny any of the times we were there! I am not sure we drank either, I don’t know why, as we are not opposed to imbibing, but I think we were too busy playing. The convention has since gone away, and we get pretty cranky about that too, as about now is when we would be planning and getting things ready. Poor us.

One more nice thing to cheer us up. Hubby and I popped up to our favorite little flea market in Cheyenne a couple of weeks ago and I spotted this delightful flapper dress:

It was a quite lovely wool-blend fabric with an inset collar and self-belt. Notice those wonderful little arrowheaded pleats on the bodice and the cute little detail of the tiny buttons about the pleats in the skirt. The condition was absolutely amazing and it was priced at, I believe, $65.00, which is a very good price for a dress this age. Late ’20s early ’30s items are hard to come by. I long ago convinced myself, I do not collect vintage clothing, and for the most part I stick with it. I have a few pieces, but I don’t actively add to them. I am just happy to buy a bargain and pass it along for the most part. I hope someone comes along who will be made very happy by this little dress. Wish it worked for me!