Fest, Finished Object, and Why I Keep Buying Ben & Jerry's

It's pretty sad when you need a week to gather enough energy to photograph a few items from the Festival. What can I say? This cold has kicked my butt. Today, however, while not quite up to my normal (hardly hard-driven) pace, and with a lot of nose-blowing, I finally got my camera going.

To start with what sounds unexciting, I bought a soap dispenser. Yawn, right? Well, just about every year for the last couple, I either buy or am given a piece of "my pattern" from the same vendor. Here's what I have so far:


The big guy in the back is my fruit bowl. Then clockwise we have the soap dispenser, a spoon rest, a sponge holder (or in my case, scrubby holder), and a mug. I love this pattern! Sunny Day Pottery in Laurens, NY, please keep coming to the Apple Festival. Forever, okay? Thanks.

Next, as promised: yarn. Specifically, alpaca, from Golden Oak Alpacas:


I just love these colors:


Plus, it's soft. What else matters? (That's a rhetorical question.)


They also sell votive candles that are lovely. Try Storm Watch, or Jasmine, if you're me. (End of plug. NAYY)

What else was there? Oh, yes: I finished my socks.


Oh, yes, I did. Stick a fork in them. They're done.


And if you're seeing a certain similarity of colors, well, you're not alone.


Not that they're twins, but clearly, they're from the same family. My colors.

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When I came out of the store yesterday with more Ben & Jerry's in my bag, I started to say to myself that I needed to stop doing this. But I caught myself.

Yes, I've been eating more crap in the last two months. But what else has been going on?

• I was laid off. And I certainly expected to have a new job by now, but I don't. (Thank god for Unemployment, and that's not something I ever thought I'd say.)
  
• One of my beloved cats almost died. The fact that he didn't is great, but I thought he was going to, and the stress has been huge. (He's eating again, which is fantastic, but he lost about a quarter of his weight, so we have a ways to go before I can even semi-relax about it.)
• My father's health is not great. (And my mother is caring for him...)
  
• My brother is also getting laid off.
• My 94-year-old grandmother fell and broke her knee. (And my aunt is caring for her...)
  
• My best friend is worried about layoffs at her job.
• Even my other friend's father dying last week, while not a personal loss for me except in sympathy for her, is a Scary Reminder.

So I'm eating more ice cream. And I'm not giving myself a hard time for it.

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And in closing, may I share with you this Muppet moment, pointed out by Urban Fantasy Land: