Mmm... coffee

Sometimes I think I love coffee just a little too much. That first mouthful in the morning is just heaven some days. The way you can feel the heat from it all the way down your throat, and then spreading like magic until it delivers happiness to the brain. A good cup of coffee in your favourite mug can turn a bad day around.

My favourite mug.

I gave up drinking coffee for quite a few years. I had been a serious coffee drinker in my youth. (Two pots a day of black coffee when I was 18.) It started to not sit so well, so I gave it up. I was okay with that; I got to the point that I didn't miss it. I would even have a cup occasionally, but I didn't start drinking it all the time again until.... The Machine.
Hubby came home from a friend's house raving about their coffee. He said I had to try it. I really didn't get what he was so excited about; coffee is coffee, right? There is good and bad, sure, but how great could this stuff be? And then I tried it. Elixir of the gods, it was. This coffee machine made the best cup of coffee I had ever had. I must have this machine. I won't go into what I went through to track it down; the investigating; the months of waiting; the tears of frustration. Finally, I acquired The Machine. And what do I do at every chance I get? I share a cup of coffee with some other poor soul, destroying their future ability to ever enjoy a sub-par cup of joe ever again.
Mwah ha ha!

Annual Elora trip, with pictures!

We did a family day-trip to Elora this week. We do this every summer, and this year I remembered to bring my camera! Unfortunately, I frequently forgot that I had it with me, so I didn't photograph all I could have, but here are some of the things that interested me enough for me to remember to snap them!
Due to construction we took a detour through Orangeville. As soon as I saw this place I was scrambling to unzip my camera bag. I wish we'd been able to stop so I could get a better picture of...

Ghostbusters Headquarters!
Okay, it's not exactly like it, but that's what it made me think of. It is the town's old fire hall.
See:

There is a store/gallery in Elora that has these really cool benches that are carved out of tree roots. They are really comfortable, as well as looking super-nifty!

It was inside this store/gallery that I found the piece I really want, though. I don't remember what the price on it was, I just remember that it was a lot. Check it out:

Doesn't that look great? But that isn't all; look at this:

How fantastic is that?! I love it! We were thinking of a steampunk theme for when we finally finish the family room; I think that table would look awesome in there!
That was about it for photo-worthy stuff. It was an incredibly hot day and we mostly gasped for air in the antique stores and shivered as our sweaty underclothes got chilly in the air-conditioned shops.
We're looking forward to going again next year!

My 15 milliseconds

How silly am I that this just made my day?
 Cake Wrecks (which I love, love, LOVE!) did a post on Saturday featuring submissions from fellow stalkers followers, one of which was this absolutely adorable photo:

Get the story behind the photo at cake wrecks.

 So, being the strange little person that I am, and having some time on my hands, I embellished a bit. Here are the results of my goofiness:

I sent this off to Cake Wrecks to give them a giggle, and they put it up on their Facebook page, where hundreds of people are seeing it, and liking it!
 Is it just ridiculous that this gives me a thrill?

A movie and a discovery

We finally watched The King's Speech last night. It was a good movie, it really was, but I was far too distracted by the cast. Hubby and I couldn't go five minutes without saying "You know who that is?" about almost every actor in the movie. That is when I discovered something disturbing about myself. More about that in a minute; right now I want to mention some of the faces we recognised. Obviously, Colin Firth, who plays King George VI is Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. The wife of the man who became king was Helena Bonham Carter, who most of us know as Bellatrix Lestrange, but I always have to tell my hubby that she was the drug addict that Sonny falls in love with in Miami Vice. Yes, that's how old I am. Churchill was portrayed by the same man who played Wormtail in Harry Potter, and King George V will always be Dumbledore to me. King Edward VIII has fought with morlocks, the speech therapist's wife finds Darcy "insufferable" and she won't marry the theatre director, even though it means her mother "will never see her again!" No wonder I was distracted. (If anyone can actually follow all of that, they have my undying admiration!)
Okay, the disturbing thing I learned about myself was that I am one of those people. You know, the people who can't live without their little communication devices; the people who will text a message to someone while you are having a conversation with them. Those people are so annoying, and I am one of them. Last night, every time we couldn't quite identify one of the actors I picked up my iPod and satisfied my curiosity. Could I just wait until the movie was over? No! The desire for instant gratification has become very strong, and only because I have the means to satisfy the desire. Weird, eh? If I never had this hand-held technology I would never have missed it, but now that I have tasted having the world at my fingertips I can't wait twenty minutes to have a trivial question answered. Pathetic! 

Dusty treasures

My sons, through methods and with reasons I cannot fathom, have discovered a love for antique stores. They revel in looking through the heaps of dusty rubble, unearthing treasures. Having spent time with them at various such nests I have myself developed an interest in broken old jewelry. I'm beginning to collect some of these pieces in hopes of restoring some and "converting" others.

I like the intricate detail on this piece. (It doesn't show up so well in the picture, sorry.) I'm planning on replacing those hangy bits with something daintier, perhaps some colour too.

I think these clip-on earrings are absolutely hideous, but I love the orange crystals dangling from them. I'll be taking those off and using them elsewhere. Also, the scroll-ish looking bit along the bottom that the dangling parts are hanging from are quite pretty, if I can just find a way to separate them from the ugly part.

See what I mean? It's like a peacock's tail!

I thought these glass beads were pretty. I'd like to find a way to feature each one of them; they're so interesting.

This bracelet I love, just the way it is. It's sad that some of the stones are missing. I'd love to replace them if I can. Even if I can't I'll be wearing it as is anyway.
Hopefully I'll be getting around to doing the things I have planned for this stuff sometime soon.

The Farmer Nod

I grew up in a farming community. My Dad farmed, our neighbours farmed, our friends farmed; most of the people you would encounter driving down the road were farmers. This was not lucrative farming, though. Most of them had another job too, which meant that they worked pretty much all the time. From chores before dawn to an eight-hour shift somewhere to bringing in the hay long after dark, these guys knew hard work. I attribute the standard form of greeting that I grew up seeing to this. When these folks passed one another they didn't wave (hands probably busy) or say "Hello", (probably loud machinery running) what they did was what I affectionately refer to as "the farmer nod". It looks like this: compress your lips, almost smiling but not; dip your head down a small amount and back up, one time, quickly; maintain eye contact. This is done all together at lightning speed, like a reflex. This is a very efficient and very effective form of greeting among farmers, and I have learned it instinctively. This is how I greet people all over the place whether I'm walking, biking, running, whatever. The problem is, I no longer live in the farming community. People don't seem to understand that what I am doing should be considered a friendly gesture. Instead they seem to think that I'm some sort of lunatic with an uncontrollable tick. I'm trying to remember to wave or say "hello", but the farmer nod does not want to be shaken. I just hope I can retrain my brain before someone decides to have me locked up.

My Running Shorts

You know it's time to take action when you get the muffin-top effect with a pair of sweatpants. Okay, to give myself a break, they aren't regular sweatpants, they are those wonderful running shorts that are made of spandex and steel, or some such combo. You know, the ones that don't give at all, the ones that are indestructible and impervious to everything but stink. (Thanks New Balance.) Allow me to illustrate:

The part of me that is in the shorts looks great, it's just all the, um, excess above and below the shorts that have become a problem. (That and breathing.) So I'm thinking that what I need is a garment made out of this mystical fabric that comes up higher, higher, pushing the fat up, up, up until my entire body is held perfectly in place, looking fantastic! The problem would be what to do with the tremendous fat blob on the top of my head.

Giggle guarantee

Try this: serious skipping. I'm not talking about rope-jump skipping, I'm talking about la-la-la down the sidewalk skipping. Try to skip with a serious expression on your face; I think it might be impossible. Actually, what is more fun than doing this is watching someone else try to do it. I know it sounds weird, but if you find yourself down in the dumps, this will cure you!