Black Friday This-n-That

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I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. I was still feeling sick with my head cold, so we stayed home. Please don't feel sorry for us. We had a beautiful dinner, including a delicious persimmon-frangiapani tart, made with persimmons from our tree.

Now as for Black Friday? Long-time blog readers know that Robb and I would rather poke hot needles in our eyes than venture into any shop on the day after Thanksgiving. Neither of us possess the Recreational Shopping Gene, and we both have a deep suspicion of religiously-mandated consumerism. We stayed home, and worked on small but gratifying projects.

I'll spare you my annual rant on this subject, and only note that the shooting in the Walmart parking lot was one town over from us. I'll also spare you my thoughts about the woman who pepper-sprayed her fellow shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Los Angeles.

Is this how good Christians observe the birth of Christ? What's wrong with people?




As I said, we stayed home.

Our little 1925 cottage has many of its original lighting fixtures. Not surprisingly, they're all in delicate condition. The glass shade for our dining room lamp, for example, is held together with glue and string. Glue and string that probably qualify as antiques, in their own right. We've been looking for an unbroken antique shade, but these things cost Real Money. Both Robb and I have been terrified by the thought that the string might finally give way, so today we wrapped some brass wire around the lamp, to augment the vintage string.




It's not a complete fix, but it will do for the time being. Now, at least, I won't spend dinner staring at the lamp and fretting.




Because we are tender hearted idiots, and because we plan to eventually replace the door to the laundry room, Robb cut a doorway for the outside kitties. They've spent the last two winters hunkered down under our house, and that's just too pathetic. We've made a little bed for them in the laundry room. (I'd invite them inside, but they're not housebroken, and anyway being closed inside with the humans is terrifying.)

We thought they'd be totally suspicious of the whole arrangement, but they took turns jumping in and out of their door, and generally checking out the view. When last we looked, they were snuggled up together, next to the washing machine. Adorable.

Robb and I also unclogged our clawfoot tub, using a cut-up bicycle inner tube, a bike pump, and an empty bottle of tylenol. I'll leave this to your imaginations.




I'm -- finally -- feeling well enough to knit. The cold still has hold of much of my brain, but I've been able to do some simple work. You can judge where I am on the path to recovery by the this fact: I'm still making plenty of mistakes, but the mistakes don't make me want to cry. It is a good thing that I like knitting, though. By the time I finish finding my errors and ripping them out, I'll have knit this project four times.

Comments

We don't understand the desire to camp out on a public sidewalk to save $100 on a $1000 item that is simply a larger version of something they already own and no one really needs anyway. Lemmings.

Your dining room is so inviting! And your kitty stories are delightful. Hope your head cold continues to get better.
mary jane said…
Oh no, I hope I didn't give you that nasty cold. Your dining room is so beautiful and what lucky kitties. Feel better!
Anonymous said…
If there was a black friday sale on giant rolls of arches printmaking paper, or cans of house paint or lumber for our barn at fab prices, I would be there!

But its not- they just have sales on cheap ass chinese crap that people dont need or want- the local news here spoke of a guy first in line who got all 10 of these big tv's, (since there were not tickets given out per person) and then there was fighting that 1 guy got all this stuff that others also wanted. stupid, stupid greed and more greed.

Annalisa
Stefaneener said…
I knit everything at least three times too! And I really only want the finished object! I'm so glad you're feeling better. Your house looks so inviting. . . and calm. . . sigh.

Persimmons, good, getting over a cold, good, unclogged tub -- really good. Happy Thanksgiving.
I don't blame either of you! I haven't set foot in an after holiday sale in almost 2 decades...heck I can't remember the last time I stepped foot in a mall. I hate shopping...can you tell? ;)

Glad you're feeling well enough to knit. I do love it, I just don't seem to find time to knit enough these days. I still have a 2/3s done sweater I'd like to finish some day. BTW, love the photo of the new kitty door, and glad they figured it out so fast too!
Country Mouse said…
Photo of cat in door - priceless. Nice of you to care for the feral cats. One once raised a litter under the water heater in our garage (long ago - diffnt house) - we found homes for the kitties (including our own home) and they were all weird and tweaked cats! I also love your dining room! Can't knit. Don't try. Hope you're much better by now!
Kristin said…
I keep reading about your being sick. I'd like to recommend soaking flax seeds in water and drinking/chewing them every day to build immunity, aide digestion, get your Omega 3's, and reduce cortisol levels--advice from my Naturopath, Tara Levy. I'm starting back on it today.

Glad you had a nice Thanksgiving. Your tart sounds scrumptious. My husband and I feel the same way you two do about shopping.
Kristen said…
I repaired a badly damaged light fixture of my grandma's last summer using silicone and automotive epoxy. Would that not help on your unit? I couldn't figure out where the damage was based on your images. (A big part of any trip to grandma's is fixing things around the farm. In my light pleasant visits there I've repaired clocks, lights, computers, printers, decking, wiring...even trucks. She makes lists for us. But before she took ill she did it all herself.)

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