Odds and Ends + What's Up with That?

Remember the green dresses I posted about here? Some of you asked to see them, and here's one. I was ready to go to a Christmas dance and from the look on my face, I wasn't too happy about it. This was not the Oleg Cassini dress, but it was one of my favorites. That big cattleya orchid looked good with it, didn't it?

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baby blankets, shoe insoles, rubber pants, wedding apparel & garter belts

The list above was included in a longer list of items that were tax exempt on our tax-free weekend. Being tax-free was supposed to help parents of school-age children, so that they could save a little money when buying back-to-school clothing and school supplies for their families. So.......I ask you, what do the items above have to do with getting ready for the school year?

And speaking of underwear, I went to Penney's last Friday to get mr. kenju some boxers and buy a few more bras. I haven't ever had a good fitting bra, but recently I bought two that turned out to be the best bras I've ever owned. Considering I've been wearing bras since 1952, that's saying something. I had hoped to find a few more, perhaps in color. Fat chance. If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all - it seems that Ambrielle has discontinued that style of bra. Pooh. But a silver lining to the story is that they had four in my size, all discounted 70% off the original price. YAY!! I can't believe I got them for $6 each!! (and tax-free, too!)

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Have you seen the current pictures in Abercrombie & Fitch store windows? I hadn't seen them, since I rarely go to the mall, but they were on TV this week. A male shopper who went to the mall with his 4 young children was offended by the very revealing photos and asked the mall officials to move them inside the store. They refused, as did the store. They border on soft-c*re p*rn, and I can easily see how parents of young children would have a hard time explaining the posters. How are you supposed to convince children not to show their 'privates' to anyone if there are posters suggesting that in the windows??? The guy also said he had asked the same of Vict*ria's Secret and they refused. I think it shows extreme disregard for the concerns of parents and I would like to be included in a protest that includes not shopping there. Since I have never shopped there anyway, I don't know how much of a protest it will be. Won't you join me?

And in the What's Up with That department:

I found three dead baby snakes in my pool skimmer this week (on different days), and all of them were different colors (tan, brown and dark brown with darker markings). Was the mama making out with 2-3 different daddies? They were about the size of a new pencil; maybe a little bit larger in diameter. In each case, the skimmer also held huge spiders, some bees, a salamander or two and once there was a mouse. I used to stick my hand in there and remove the basket without so much as a cursory glance inside, but nooooooo more! I use tongs to remove it. The dead snakes are one thing, but the big, hairy spiders are not going to crawl over my hand if I can help it!!

Bees and Fleas: You may remember we have bees living in the walls of our house, and now we have fleas living inside. I found one in my bed a few days ago and one jumped on my arm in the car yesterday! ICK! My cats are treated with flea and tick meds every month, and the last 8-10 months worth were bought off the internet. I thought what I bought was the same thing the vets office had sold me before, but yesterday I learned that it was about half the strength of that the vet sells. Don't be fooled, as I was. Frontl*ne T*p Spot is what you get from the vet. What I bought was Frontl*ne Sp*t On, and I may as well have put water on the cats, for all the good it did against fleas. The vet gave Storm a pill and applied Top Spot, and although it made her sick for about 20 hours, she seems to be recovering well now. I bought some of the good stuff, and Eclipse got her treatment as well. Now I have to vacuum the carpets every 2 days to pull up the fleas and the eggs they lay (ICK again.) The vet told me to put a flea collar into the vacuum bag, otherwise I'd have to toss out the bag every time I run the sweeper.

I hope we have a good, hard freeze this winter, so the fleas and ticks will not be so prevalent next summer.