Tuesday 30 June 2015

In short

I've been pretty busy but a few things happened over the last couple of months...

Pretty Woman
I popped into a local clothes store in Harvard. They have a lovely window display and the clothes are classic and stylish, plus they have beautiful scarves. Having admired the display from the outside for a while I decided to see what other treasures lay inside.

The sales assistant said hello and possibly gave a nervous glance at the Little Miss in the stroller. I took a dress off a rail - shift style, in a dark beige color with several embroidered lines crossing each other over it in shades of beige, orange and brown. It was stunning. The lady started spouting it was made in Italy, hand finished etc. I asked how much - $1,500.

Admittedly my response was somewhat of shock. A $1500 dress in Harvard where the main clientele are students? But who am I to think every student is hard up when each has a Mac laptop and there is a Clinique in the COOP (a clothes/text book specifically for Harvard students)?

Upon hearing my response ("oh wow"), she proceeded to take the dress from my hand and put it back on the rail.

I was quite shocked by her behavior/attitude - especially as I was the only one in the store and didn't see anyone else breaking down the door to get in. There will be a day when I walk back in that store loaded with bags from Gucci, Tiffany and MK and ask "you work on commission right? Big mistake, huge...I have to go now."

Update: The above situation happened a few months ago. Passing by the shop yesterday (June 29) I'm pleased to see the dress in the window - sell many? No? Shocker...

Sing Along
Our library does several free events for toddlers. One of which is to sing various songs - If You're Happy, Baa Baa Black Sheep etc - which I endeavor to take the Little Miss to. It's a great 20 minutes program.

But what bothers/irks me is the small number of parents/caregivers that sit down and look at their phone or take it out during this time. You're the adult who is supposed to be showing the child in your care what movement to make, teach the words of the songs etc. What are they to think when they look at you and see you staring at your phone? Just very sad when we can't seem to spend even a short time interacting with our children.

(If you need to know, I'm normally stood at the back dancing and singing along whilst Missy is running to the front and back (of the room), occasionally joining in with clapping and stomping her feet.)

Crafts
I'm obsessed with knitting and crocheting.

Reading and then reading
I've fallen back in love with the library. I've discovered some great authors and have been reading and just reading. And because I've read so many books (at least 25 in the last few months) I've not even blogged about them. But I'll do a synopsis and share my thoughts 'cause you know, everyone is entitled to hear my opinion.

Pedicures and Toddlers
Just don't mix. (I'll just say that Missy thought the man was attacking mommy which was sweet but not so for the other customers who came in for a relaxing treatment. Thank God I had the i-pad...)

Tuesday 3 March 2015

Snow Snow Snow/Now is the winter of our discontent...

November, December even early January the weather was cold, crisp, but no snow. Hubby and I had a conversation where in I said, "ooh, we've been lucky with not having any snow this winter." To which Hubby responded, "you say this every year, we always get some snow around now."

And then the first winter storm headed towards us. I forget the name, let's call it Bob and it dumped a whole load of the white stuff. Before long another one came along, Cousin Sue, and deposited even more. Within two weeks Boston, heck the state of Massachusetts, got a year's worth of snow in that time span.

Two more storms on top of Bob and Cousin Sue, and it's the city's third biggest winter snowfall. And I haven't even mentioned the wind chill. At times stepping out with exposed skin for ten minutes would result in frostbite. That's cold.

Of course there is the usual travel bans and MBTA (tube) stopping services. Can you believe that people have complained? The Governor complained that it was unacceptable that the tube services stopped. Now I get they have a commitment to have some sort of transportation going - people need to get to work - nurses, doctors etc. but surely people have some sort of understanding that just sometimes it's not possible to get things working the way you expect them to be. How can you control the weather?

And then you have the runners. They still get out and about which you either think is admirable or just stupid. I'm erring on the side of stupid; it's icy and paths are cleared but narrow because of the snow banks. I was out with the little miss. She's happily wondering around; I did hear the thuds of a runner behind us, I moved to get said little miss out of the way. Lo and behold, the runner slipped and fell because she wanted to get around us. I was sorry that we may have caused the fall and felt sorry for her but then thought why not just slow down, or stop. Or here's a thought, don't run. Everyone is taking their time getting around mindful of ice and black ice. Having to avoid runners shouldn't be part of the list.

I won't even mention the people who think dress shoes are appropriate footwear, those with hoods on their coats who look frozen to the core yet won't put them up...

Yes I've had enough of the white stuff, Yet I can't help but feel a little bit of excitement when those fluffy flakes flutter silently down to the ground. There is still something quite magical about it, the silence, its beauty. So as much as I'm waiting somewhat impatiently for Spring to arrive, I haven't quite fallen out of love with snow.