Some Whatever-Happened To's

Lawsee me! I am behind on some wedding posts, having now attended two out-of-town nuptials these past two weekends. I want to thank my sister for such awesome guest posting, and for not wrecking the place. Also, her post is proof that the suspension I received in high school really is on my permanent record. When I think of that now, I remember that the day I spent at home, in disgrace, besides being my 16th birthday, was the day I found out I was a National Merit finalist. It took the sting out. I skipped Chemistry to pull off that caper, and it was the beginning and end of my life of crime. But alright, so only actual seniors are supposed to be in the senior picture. I see that now, Society.

Wedding-y travel posts are forthcoming, but I wanted to duck in and offer a few updates on matters that may be of interest.

1) My relationship with my housecleaner Fabienne: it's an alternate Tuesday once again, so Fabienne came today, even though I didn't know she was coming until she appeared at the door. We got back from Boston really late last night, so I neither remembered that it was her day, nor straightened in preparation. Anyway, she broke my Red Wing console bowl today. She was vacuuming and she knocked a little table over. You can see the bowl behind Laura in this picture.

She came upstairs and found me to tell me the bad news, but the funny thing is, I had just heard the noise, and I knew exactly what it was. So I had a moment to process this fact, grieve, and compose myself before she poked her head in the doorway. She offered to pay for me to replace it, or to look on ebay for one herself, but I couldn't see making a thing out of it. Accidents happen.

And anyway, how do you put a replacement value on something that you found, and liked, but which isn't rare or precious? The bowl was from around 1955, and designed by Charles Murphy, who did a lot of Red Wing. RW was mass-produced; there's a brown one like this on ebay right now that would cost only $30 shipped. So it's not a monetary loss, really. I just liked this happy green color. I told Fabienne, "Don't even worry about it. Not a big deal. It will give me a reason to hunt for something else." Mild bummer, but I must admit that the Machiavellian in me thought, "Not making a big deal out of this will pay much higher dividends than the cost of that bowl. She may even feel indebted to me. She'll be more careful and will think of me as magnanimous, without my having actually been magnanimous." Wheels within wheels, people. That's my jam.

2) My pumpkin-stained table: I emailed Crate & Barrel about it, and they contacted someone at corporate, who said, "Yep, you're gonna want to sand that down and rewax it." I presume I need to sand the whole table top, so the finish will look uniform. I haven't decided yet whether I could do that myself or if I should go pro.

3) My Frenemy and Me: This isn't closing an open loop, but it made me laugh. Yesterday, as we were traveling home, Frenemy emailed me and said,

"I have a friend who has about a hundred pairs of brand new women's shoes he wants to sell. Would you be willing to help him sell them on ebay? He just moved back to town and is a good friend of mine."

I couldn't decide whether to go with, "I would rather take a beating" as a response, or the simpler, "Oh, HELL no." She knows that in the past, I've sold stuff online. So I just thanked her for thinking of me and told her that no, I couldn't take that on right now. But I'm thinking, who is this guy who just moved to town with a hundred pairs of new women's shoes? And what is his history with Frenemy? And is there anything about that proposal that could be less appealing?

I may submit this post to Keely's Random Tuesday Thoughts, as it is somewhat lacking in a strong narrative thread. But that's what I've got going on today. Just trying to get back in the groove. Here's some love from me to you.