the pattyo

If you google our house and look at the photo, you mainly see four garbage cans. Nice, eh? Sometimes I wish our neighbors wouldn’t put all their cans in front of our house. It seems rather odd.

And usually that means we have six in front, so seeing only four is rather surprising.

When I went to the AT&T store to get a new phone for Jameson — and, as it turned out, a new one for Dan as well — the guy who helped us said there was a rebate on the phones. He even went so far as to fill out the form and prepare the envelope for me. I sent in both forms, and waited.

Now I have to “rejected” letters, saying something was wrong with the request. It states that either the rebate expired or the receipt was missing. The AT&T guy put everything together for me, but I did check to be sure the receipt was in for both requests (sent separately). There was a number on the rejection letters that I could call, so I did that.

The number is no longer in service! ACK!!

So have we been scammed by AT&T?

I wonder.

If you are lengthening your son’s pants, and you are clipping the original hem stitching, it’s probably best to use a dull scissors so you don’t cut through any fabric.

Stupid self. :-(

Ah well … I guess Jameson can turn them into khaki shorts or some such thing

I’m listening to the news on NPR, and they are reporting on this every important shopping day. Two guys the woman interviewed in Best Buy had waited in line for 22 hours to get in this morning.

I’m sorry, but I can’t think of anything that would cause me to stand in line in front of a store. I don’t even care if they are giving things away. I just won’t do that.

I had run my oboe blog through the Typealyzer earlier. Now I ran this one:

ESFP – The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead – they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation – qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

So at my oboe site I get this:

ISFP – The Artists

The gentle and compassionate type. They are especially attuned their inner values and what other people need. They are not friends of many words and tend to take the worries of the world on their shoulders. They tend to follow the path of least resistance and have to look out not to be taken advantage of.

They often prefer working quietly, behind the scene as a part of a team. They tend to value their friends and family above what they do for a living.

Kinda interesting in a “doesn’t really matter but still…” way.

I went shopping today. Me … out of the house … trying on clothes. Amazing! (Funny; years ago I absolutely loved to shop. Not so any more.)

Coldwater Creek has been my store of choice for a while; I like much of what they carry nearly all the time, and it’s small, so I’m not overwhelmed. I tried on five pair of pants (or is that “pairs of pants”?), and came away with two, putting another on hold. I also bought a turtleneck which I’ll return tomorrow for a different color (I bought black; what was I thinking?!). I believe I’m finally understanding what I should wear that makes me feel better about this body ‘o mine. I tried on a top (in a sort of burnt orange color, not the black they are showing) that went in at the waist and suddenly I didn’t feel so darn large. (I put that on hold too.)

I also need to go through my closet and get rid of the things that simply don’t work. I realize I’m goofy for watching shows on what to wear and all … I should be using the time for reeds or yard work, eh? … but I AM learning about what works and what doesn’t, and why I feel so awful wearing certain clothes that I thought were such a deal. I tend to buy things a size too large on top, just to make me feel smaller. In truth, they make me look frumpy and larger. Go figure.

Oops. Who wants to talk about the figure?! Hah.

I do look at Tim Gunn’s “essentials” and think, “I would not want to buy a basic black dress.” I wear enough black as it is!

… for they shall be called the sons of God.”

An unusual sight greeted Jerusalem police as they entered one of Christianity’s holiest sites Sunday morning: dozens of monks punching and kicking each other in a massive brawl.
Israeli police scuffle with an Armenian monk at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on Sunday.

Israeli police scuffle with an Armenian monk at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on Sunday.

Monks from the Greek Orthodox and Armenian denominations were preparing for a ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City when a disagreement led to a full-fledged fist fight.

Yeah. Really.

… do they truly exist for this body? I’m doubting it. I went to fashion guru, Tim Gunn, to see what he had to say:

Must-Haves
Perfect-Fit Jeans
TIM SAYS “Why is it so difficult to find the right fit in denim? I find that the most universally forgiving style is a dark wash (this offers more versatility, such as going out at night) with a lower rise (fit your hips, not your waist), and that falls straight from the widest part of the hip. But in any case, TRY IT ON!”
HOW TO WEAR IT The perfect jeans are flattering and work with all your wardrobe staples like a t-shirt and blazer for the weekend or a flowy blouse and sparkly jewelry for a night out.
ADD IT TO YOUR WARDROBE
Raw Jeans, ACNE, $225

Well … okay then. $225 MIGHT mean I could find jeans that fit. Ya think? But … falling straight from widest part of the hip?! Huh? My thighs are larger, I fear, than my hips.

Mr. Gunn, can’t you please help?

Oh … and his “daily tip”?:

The crimes of age and appropriateness are usually in the form of older women trying to look like teenagers.

Um. I’m not sure that’s a tip. I think a tip would be “You stupid older women … dress your age!” That’s a tip.

I remember when a friend of mine who is 10 years older than I said, “I can’t shop in juniors any longer!” She wasn’t a junior. Neither was I. But I though, “Oh, I’ll always be able to shop in that department. My body type is just a junior type.” HAH! But not only do I not fit into junior fashions … I don’t like them. I wouldn’t want to wear those clothes even if I could fit in them. (Yes, you can all breathe a sigh of relief now.)

I’m not obsessing about my clothes. Really! But I am thinking about how I have so many clothes and yet can’t stand so many of them. I think I should carefully go through everything and toss things I haven’t worn in years. But we’ll see ….

So history has been made. Did I ever think we would see a black man as president? In all honesty, I don’t think it even entered my mind to think about that … how out of touch was I? Very. And yes, I will say here that I voted for him. (I won’t say a word about anything political at the oboe site. I don’t think many who read that read this. I prefer to keep my oboe blog free of anything that doesn’t have to do with the arts.)

I don’t know, though, that things will change in the huge way some will think. I do believe we still will have to learn to live with less. I think we need to work on conservation. I think there will still be struggles. And I think some people think President Obama will somehow cure all our ills. That ain’t gonna happen.

But I want to see him succeed. As I want to see anyone in leadership succeed. (Really. I’m not one who ever wants to wish ill of anyone … even though I sometimes do. I’d rather be better than that.)

Going a bit off topic … I heard an interesting bit of a discussion on KQED radio this morning. Whoever was talking said that frequently there are better movies made in times of difficulty. I guess I’ll keep my eyes open for that. (As if I ever get to the movies!)

Oh … and I just heard there are 17 women in the senate now. (Although not one oboist, as far as I know.)

I was just watching a video of the McCains voting. (Yeah, I’m checking in at various news sites to see what’s going on. I can’t help myself!) They had to lick their envelopes … do we do that here if we vote in person? I didn”t think so, but maybe I’m wrong. I haven’t voted “live and in person” for a while now.

Anyway, licking envelopes is a very weird thing, if you think about it. You’d think we’d not do that kind of thing any more. And we look very, very weird sticking our tongues out to lick them. (I prefer self-adhesive envelopes, really.)

I’m just sayin’.

(You can see videos of the McCains and Obamas voting here)