There have been so many screwy things happening with hot water heaters, furnaces, pipes, computers, royalty checks, miscommunications, automobiles–not just here at The Compound, but among our friends–that it occurred to me to check on that whimsical planet Mercury. He did, in fact, go retrograde on December 26 and doesn’t go direct until January 15. Suddenly it all makes sense. Don’t be mad at Mercury, though. Instead of being reactive and combative, consider this a time to gather information about things you want to change or correct. Once he goes direct, you’ll be ready to take action based on clear thinking and good decisions.
If all else is going wrong, eat delicious cornbread. Here’s a basket of it I baked the night of the Alabama-Texas game, using my old iron corn-pone skillet and a new divided iron skillet that Tim got me for Christmas. That afternoon, I received a text from Lynne inviting me to watch the game with her and others at her son’s house. I texted back that NO way was I going into enemy territory while the Tide was playing. Though Lynne’s an Auburn fan (her family school), she was pulling for Bama against Texas and didn’t want to be the only one with all those UT fans around her. Right after I invited her to The Compound, I got a text from Lindsey, who suggested combining a craft night with the game. Though Lynne and Kathy weren’t able to join us, Lindsey and Rhonda braved crossing the prairie in the frigid weather (four blocks!) to help us eat a big pot of chili, the cornbread, and queso and chips. Painting was the perfect activity for me while the game was on, ’cause I never actually sit near the TV on game days. This is because many times when Tom has been watching an Alabama game, the other team scores when I walk into the room. It’s almost like I’m the Crimson Tide’s Mercury in retrograde.
So I painted (I could see the TV from the dining room), Lindsey knitted while she sat in the living room with Tom, Rhonda knitted in the dining room with me, and Lynne, my sister, and I texted back and forth all kinds of OMGs and Roll Tides! and EEKs, and in the end, my alma mater won the National Championship in an exciting game. It’s been a long, long time.
Also last week, I was able to revisit the non-sports side of my college years when I talked to my wonderful friend Debbie on the phone. She was my college roommate through undergraduate school and again for a while during graduate school. Since she’s lived in Sweden for many years, her Christmas visits home provide our rare opportunities to catch up. Last year I was able to see her, but even a phone call reminds me how lucky I am to have her friendship.
Project Runway starts a new season next week, and people are asking if I’m going to be doing the challenges with my dolls. I plan to, even though both of my computers are making me wonder if I’ll even be online soon. Maybe things will be right again when the planets behave.
I did complete a “practice” project. In an effort to be greener, we decided to stop using paper napkins. I had a couple of sets of cloth napkins, and Tim bought a third at Christmas. I learned from a communal kitchen on my brother’s compound (it’s a family thing!) that the most eco-friendly way to use napkins is to launder them only when they need it. In that kitchen, they keep a board with all the residents’ names painted above the pegs where they hang their napkins. Since I don’t have room for a pegboard, I decided to take some unfinished napkin rings I had, paint them, and put people’s names on them. (Though only three of us live on The Compound, seven people eat here semi-regularly.) So we can eliminate paper napkins and be more efficient with laundering, too.
Using a fabric remnant I picked up at the craft store a while back (for less than a dollar!), my new sewing machine and I did: My First Project.
Newly painted napkin rings (no names yet) and eight napkins.
Do NOT look too closely at those seams*. I’m learning!
And by seams, I probably mean hems.
Our last morning in the Crescent City, we’d planned to meet Lisa, ‘Nathan, and Dan at the 
So Monday, being the friend he is, Tim agreed to go on a hunt with me for the Bvlgari shower gel that Ranger uses because I wanted to know how Ranger smells. But as we scanned the men’s fragrance shelves in Nordstrom and Macys, none of the names were jumping out at me. Then we went to Etoile Perfumery, where the sales associate pointed out that there were some unisex Bvlgari products, too. I still wasn’t sure about the name, so we went to Borders to look through the books. Tim finally spotted the exact name in one of the later books: Green Tea. Back to Etoile to check out the scent. They didn’t have the shower gel, but since Tim’s out of Marc Jacobs, he said he’d be willing to wear this because it smells as delicious as Stephanie Plum says. I happen to have a checking account that I shared with my mother that still has money in it, so we paid for it using that account. She’d have gotten a kick out of the Ranger connection. Plus it was ON SALE, as it originally had been part of a set, and the other item was missing. What budget-conscious mother doesn’t teach us the value of buying stuff that’s ON SALE, right?!?
I didn’t know how to decorate the cake, so I printed childhood photos of everyone who’d be at Tim’s birthday dinner and put them on the cake. Tim’s photo was biggest, of course, to indicate that he was King of the Playground.
